At the meeting of top leaders of the RSS and BJP to be held in Kerala starting Saturday, the Sangh Parivar is likely to retrain its focus on the organization’s campaign of “samajik samrasta (social harmony)”. The other big matter on the agenda is better coordination between the ideological fountainhead and its political arm.
The RSS’s annual Akhil Bharatiya Samanvay Baithak is to be held over three days in Palakkad, and will see the participation of all the top leaders of the Sangh apart from representatives from all its associate organizations.
While from the RSS side, its chief Mohan Bhagwat, general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale, all six joint general secretaries and other senior office-bearers will participate, the BJP team will include party chief JP Nadda, general secretary BL Santhosh and joint general secretary Shiv Prakash. , among others.
Up to a few weeks ago, there was speculation that the BJP would name a caretaker president, who would then go to Palakkad to take part in the meeting. However, now Nadda, who is on an extension as BJP president, is expected to present the party report of the past one year at the meeting and talk about plans for the coming year.
With the party’s membership drive getting underway on September 2, a full-time president is now likely to be picked after elections to units of at least half the states are over, and Nadda will stay in office till then.
Apart from the membership drive and the election of the president, the BJP’s calendar for the coming days and year includes tough elections in Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir (which are already on the way), and in Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Delhi (either end of the year or beginning of next).
The Sangh has been running the samajik samrasta campaign, to “bridge the caste divide at the grassroots level” and “create a narrative of Hindu unity”, for several years now. But there is a renewed sense of urgency after the recent Lok Sabha elections saw Dalits shifting away from the BJP, which was reduced to 240 seats and short of a majority in the House.
The social harmony campaign typically involves RSS shakha-level workers ensuring access to temples and wells for Dalits. Community lunches where RSS workers sit with those from the Dalit community and share food are also common.
“The Congress has built a false narrative around caste. It has ended up getting some traction on the ground. Effective counter-narrative through grassroots efforts is thus essential,” a Sangh functionary told The Indian Express, referring to the Opposition’s campaign during the elections that a big-majority BJP government would change the Constitution to undermine reservations.
The need for better coordination between the BJP and RSS has been coming up since the elections, in which Sangh cadres are believed to have not worked with the required enthusiasm for the party, to its detriment. BJP chief Nadda’s remarks, in an interview to The Indian Express, that the party was now self-sufficient and not as dependent on the RSS, added to the rancour.
Another Sangh functionary said that with elections to important states ahead, it was natural for these issues to come up. “After all, it is a coordination meeting. All the arms of the Sangh will discuss their field of work and how better they can coordinate to get the best results. The BJP is no different.”
Apart from this, the meeting will discuss contemporary issues, the top of the list being the situation in Bangladesh. Sangh and BJP leaders have been expressing concerns regarding the safety of minorities in the country. The Sangh functionary said that this was also linked to “national security”, pointing to “the increasing influence of Jamaat in the new dispensation”.
Other issues which could figure include the Uniform Civil Code, caste census and sub-categorisation of SCs/STs. On all these issues, the BJP is at variance with its allies to various degrees.
In a statement earlier, Sangh publicity in-charge Sunil Ambekar had said: “During this meeting, activists of Sangh-inspired organizations will share information and exchange experiences about their respective works. There will be discussion on various issues of national interest… recent important happenings and planning regarding the various dimensions of social change. All these organizations will talk about measures to increase mutual cooperation.”
The BJP’s high and low points of the past year are also likely to come up. The inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, close on the heels of Assembly election victories in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, were some recent high points. The big low was the fall in the BJP’s Lok Sabha tally by 63, with serious reverses in UP, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.