RSS intensifies efforts in poll-bound Karnataka

As the assembly polls in Karnataka draw closer, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has intensified its work in the state in the last few months. This includes drives to increase its reach in the state, especially in regions that have seen the consolidation of Hindutva forces, as well as contact programmes with various sections of the society.

In the southern part of the state, which the RSS refers to as the organisational zone of Karnataka Dakshin, over 355 dedicated vistaraks have fanned out across the region for a contact and expansion programme, reaching out to over 1 lakh households as part of its Vistarak Abhiyan. Celebrations for Rakshabandhan, Guru Puja and other such Hindu rituals were also held in the region. The RSS also took out a drive to have shakhas across all tehsils and blocks of the region, culminating in a meeting in December last year, where 1.2 lakh people turned up.

A focus of their efforts in the region is Shivamogga, which has seen communal flare-ups in the last few years. To increase its reach there, the RSS carried out a six-month drive to increase the number of shakhas; the district now has 225 shakhas. In December last year, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat carried out a tour in the region in December, after the death of the Bajrang Dal worker Harsha. Bhagwat visited the Kote Anjaneya temple, met sarchangchalaks and held a meeting with senior RSS leaders of the state.

Similarly, in North Karnataka region, which the RSS refers to as the organisational zone of Karnataka Uttar, they held a drive to hold continuous 15-day shakhas at 2,860 locations. At the end of it, over 680 RSS workers from the region’s Vijayanagar district, who took part in the drive, were taken up to meet RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale.

The RSS has also reached out to thinkers and intellectuals in the state, with sah-sarkaryavah (or joint secretary) Mukund meeting over 180 thinkers, including 25 women, recently in the Mysore region, a region where the BJP has failed to win big.

Around the Bangalore region, too, the Sangh has increased its social activities, reviving three lakes and carrying out a plantation drive.