RSS takes corrective steps to rectify ‘negative perception’
SPECIAL EMPHASIS Sangh plans to spell out views on cow protection, reservations and Ram Temple construction NEW DELHI:
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leadership is concerned over the increasing perception of a conflation between its cadre and anti-social groups involved in acts of violence against minorities and Dalits. The leadership headed by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat will embark on a perception correction drive to stress the difference between the Sangh’s ideology and activities from perpetrators of the recent spurt in vigilantism that has led to several cases of lynching, according to two functionaries aware of the matter.
According to one of the two persons, at closed-door meetings with individuals picked from a cross-section of society that will start in September, Bhagwat and other senior functionaries will spell out the Sangh’s views on subjects such as cow protection, caste-based reservations and the Ram Temple construction in Ayodhya, that are likely to emerge as key political issues in the forthcoming state assembly and 2019 general elections.
These meetings will be in addition to the ones that are held across the country after Bhagwat’s annual Dusshera speech.
“The Sangh’s views have been articulated by the leadership; it does not believe in violence. But of late there is a tendency to link violence and lynching to RSS and its volunteers; it is with this intent that the leaders will meet people and clarify that the Sangh does not support violence,” the first functionary quoted above said on condition of anonymity.
While the RSS and it political protégé, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have denied offering political patronage to cow vigilantes and accusations that they do not subscribe to the idea of caste-based quotas in government jobs and education, the Congress and other opposition parties have blamed them for not doing enough to prevent crimes against minorities and the Dalits.
In June, after so-called cow vigilantes attacked Rakbar Khan in Rajasthan’s Alwar, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said the inordinate delay by policemen to take the lynching victim to hospital reflected Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘New India,’ where hatred was replacing humanity and people are left to die.
Similar accusations were made against the right-wing ideology after the Supreme Court made changes to the The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, opposition parties blamed the RSS for encouraging a review of the existing quota policy and for diluting the law.
The RSS hit back by declaring that laws such as the Prevention of Atrocities (PoA) Act should be invoked stringently and alleged that there was a “poisonous campaign” against the Sangh over the apex court’s order on the issue.
“After the revised Bill (restoring the original PoA Act) was passed in Parliament there is no doubt that the BJP and the Sangh are not against Dalits or reservation. But this again needs to be reinforced. RSS believes that reservation must continue till society needs it,” said the second functionary.
As it eyes doubling its units and volunteer base by 2025, the Sangh is seeking to distance its cadre from anti-social groups t o help attract potential recruits shed negative perceptions about the organisation.
To reinforce this distance, volunteers of the Sangh have been instructed to emphasise the economics and ecological advantages of cow protection instead of merely supporting it for religious or cultural beliefs.
Bhagwat himself has stressed the advantages of organic farming, and cow-based animal husbandry; and calling for state action against cow vigilantism.
Last year, in a public address, he said while the RSS supports the demand for a ban on cow slaughter, and those who respect cows, it doesn’t take resort to violence.
Similarly, the issues of Ram temple construction and the proposal for the abrogation of Articles 35A and 370 in Jammu and Kashmir will be addressed at the closed-door meetings.
Article 35A gives special rights to the Jammu and Kashmir’s permanent residents and disallows people from outside the state from buying or owning immovable property there, settle permanently, or avail themselves of state-sponsored scholarship schemes. Article 370 gives special status to J&K.
“At these meetings the Sarsanghchalak (Bhagwat) does not give a lecture; he encourages people to ask questions about the Sangh; to clear the doubts. These are conversations that help with putting things in perspective,” the second functionary said.