RSS meet tomorrow to discuss 5 state polls

The Rashtryia Swayamsevak Sangh has summoned an important four-day-long session of its powerful coordination committee starting September 3 to discuss elections in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur due early next year.

The meeting of the committee, which ensures coordination between the Sangh, its various affiliates, and the Bharatiya Janata Party, is aimed at assessing preparedness of the Sangh’s cadres and ensuring a smooth road to victory for the BJP. The RSS is the ideological parent of the BJP.

The meeting will be attended by organising secretaries of all RSS affiliates including the BJP, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and the Bhartiya Kisan Sangh.

Announcing the meeting, RSS senior functionary Arvind Kukde said that around 60 prominent Sangh Parivar leaders representing different organisations, along with RSS central executive committee members, will participate in the conclave. The meeting will be addressed by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, general secretary Dattatreya Hosabole and former general secretary Bhaiyyaji Joshi.

Former RSS swayamsevak and a keen RSS observer Dilip Deodhar said that the meeting will also discuss recent developments in Afghanistan. “The RSS feels that the Taliban’s violent return to power doesn’t augur well for a civilised world and that it may boost the morale of militants in Kashmir,” Deodhar said. The meeting is likely to adopt a resolution in this regard.

According to Deodhar, the RSS is pleased with the performance of the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh and has decided to whole-heartedly support his team in the polls.

The on-going farmers’ stir in Punjab, UP, Haryana and Delhi may also come up for discussion and the conclave may appeal to the government to resolve the issue. The RSS wants the government to incorporate minimum guarantee price and a formula for remunerative price for agricultural produce in the farm laws which were adopted by the Narendra Modi government last year.

Kukde stated that the RSS meeting will strictly adhere to Covid-19 protocols. Earlier, the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha meeting at Bengaluru in March 2020 was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “All the organising secretaries of 34 outfits of the Sangh Parivar and all members of RSS central committee members will attend the meeting. It’s a routine annual meeting,” he added.

In an unrelated development, former chief justice of India Sharad Bobde on Tuesday, visited the birthplace of RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in Mahal area in Nagpur. Bobde, who hails from Nagpur, has been living in the city after his retirement in April. He visited the house in which Hedgewar was born, to see its restoration work. Bobde is believed to have met RSS chief Bhagwat on Tuesday but neither he nor any RSS functionary, has confirmed this.

THE ONGOING FARMERS’ STIR IN PUNJAB, UP, HARYANA AND DELHI MAY ALSO COME UP FOR DISCUSSION