With the Narendra Modi-led BJP government completeing a year at the Centre, one organisation which has benefitted the most in this period is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
With the Narendra Modi-led BJP government completeing a year at the Centre, one organisation which has benefitted the most in this period is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
As the BJP recently became the world's largest political organisation with 10 crore membership, the Sangh's base has also swelled at 10-15% rate over the past four years.
The saffron institution has opened 6,000 more shakhas (branches) from April 2014 to March 2015. It now has 51,330 shakhas operating in 33,222 places across the country, states the annual report of the saffron organisation for 2014-15. A year ago, there were just 44,982 shakhas operating in 29,624 places.
"The Sangh meetings also see presence of the chiefs of media, judges, educationists, government officers, saints, litterateurs and distinguished personalities," notes the annual report.
And more and more youngsters are becoming keen to join the right wing organisation these days. The number of student shakhas has touched to 6,077, a 14% growth in the past one year.
Tech-savvy youngsters are also sending online feelers. From a monthly online request of 1,000 to join the organisation in 2012, the number has jumped to more than 10,000 now, prompting the organisation leaders to hold more meetings with its members to consolidate the newfound base.
"We had started working on an expansion plan according to the deliberations made in the Akhil Bharteeya Pratinidhi Sabha held in Nagpur in 2012. After three years of continuous efforts, we see this growth," said Pramod Bapat, RSS prachar pramukh (Konkan region).
"Now, we are trying to go to new places across India to expand our base."
The expansion agenda includes Aurangabad in Maharashtra (Sangh calls it Sambhajinagar), where hardliner All-India Majlise-Ittehadul Muslimeen has made inroads, Meerut in UP, Imphal in the northeast and hilly Uttarakhand.
Bapat insisted that the RSS recruits only "serious and skilled" people who believe in silent work. Though the total membership of the Sangh is not known, considering that each shakha usually has 80-120 members, according to Bapat, an estimated figure comes to 52-53 lakh.
With the massive and increasing support, Sangh's strategy is to consolidate its position and expand more all over the country, especially among the youth, in the next three years. This will also help the BJP in the 2019 general elections.
While the Sangh is often criticised for its controversial stand on various issues and referred to as "hardliner", pracharaks claim that the Sangh focusses on nation-building and all its activities are conducted in the open.
The saffron wing also distances itself from controversies, such as the one surrounding Godse's temple, which dented the BJP and Modi's image considerably in India and abroad. Bapat called it "petty politics by some organisations aimed at vested interests".
No change in uniform, bachelor's clause
Rejecting media speculations that the RSS planned to shed its khaki nickers and may don some smart trousers, and on the condition that pracharaks had to remain bachelors, Pramod Bapat, RSS prachar pramukh (Konkan region), said, "RSS never considered such proposals. If some journalists know more than us, then I can't help it."
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