3-day meeting of RSS functionaries from June 3: Pandemic, politics on agenda

Top brass of RSS on Thursday got off to three-day-long confabulations on the current socio-political and economic scenario.

The meeting comes amid growing concerns over the saffron party's image and the impact of the pandemic on its poll prospects.

Sunil Ambekar, joint head of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's (RSS) media and publicity (Sah Prachar Pramukh), who had authored the book, titled 'The RSS: Roadmaps for the 21st Century', however, said that the Sangh's deliberations do not discuss day-to-day politics.

"Lot of informal deliberations are being held as all five joint general secretaries (sah karyavah) will be interacting with the RSS chief (Sarsanghchalak) Mohan Bhagwat ji during the three days. Sangh Karyakartas have carried out massive relief work during the pandemic. They will be apprising the RSS chief of their work," Ambekar told Deccan Herald.

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This is the second important gathering in which all key functionaries of RSS are present, after the Sangh's highest decision-making body, Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS), convened in Bengaluru in March this year.

The closed interactions will be attended by former RSS General Secretary Suresh Joshi (Bhaiyya ji Joshi), RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosable (second in command now), and its joint general secretaries (sah sarkaryawahs) like Krishna Gopal, Manmohan Vaidya, HR Mukunda, Ram Dutt and Arun Kumar. Bhagwat will be speaking to them individually as well as collectively.

Also on the agenda is the preparations for the third wave of Covid-19 and its relief works and the political violence in West Bengal after the elections in which BJP was trounced by Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress.

The meeting comes as the pandemic has cast a shadow over BJP's prospects in the future polls, even as it will focus on overall impact of the pandemic on economic growth, jobs and politics.

Hosabale, who had earlier held meetings with RSS and BJP leaders in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh for four consecutive days, seeking feedback from functionaries in the state on issues like public perception on Covid-19 management, will apprise Bhagwat on this. Hosabale had also held meetings with PM Modi over Uttar Pradesh, which is going to polls next year.

The state is central to BJP's Lok Sabha fortunes. Apart from having 80 Lok Sabha seats, the state also has PM Modi's Lok Sabha constituency, Varanasi, and 3 holy Hindu cites —Ayodhya, Mathura and Kanshi. Opposition parties have latched

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on to images of bodies floating in the Ganga during the pandemic for their campaigning.

On May 30, Narendra Kumar, joint head of media and publicity in RSS, addressed a virtual event in Maharashtra and labelled the pictures of the floating bodies as "agenda". He said that such pictures had resurfaced in 2015 and 2017 also. He also cited how pandemics worldwide in the past have led to more deaths, defending Modi government's handling of Covid-19.

Last month, Bhagawat had said the present crisis arose due to negligance of the government, administration and public (Kya janata, kya shasan, kya prashasan, sabhi gaflat mein aa gaye"). "We do not want negation. We are not saying nothing has happened. Everything is right. The situation is indeed tough, sad which is perplexing people, disappointing them..." he had said underlining the importance of "consistency" in efforts to win the battle over Coronavirus.

Amid growing criticism of the government at the onset of the second wave, RSS stepped in to defend the Centre and provide succour to the patients. On April 24, Hosabale instructed Swayamsevaks to get involved and act promptly to resolve people's problems. This was the first time RSS got involved in health awareness drives on such a large scale in the last few decades.

Prior to it, RSS’s Delhi state executive member Rajiv Tuli had raised questions on the absence of the state BJP during the pandemic on Twitter, saying "There is fire everywhere in Delhi, has any ‘Dilli wala’ seen BJP Delhi? Where is BJP4Delhi? Or is the state body dissolved?”. RSS later described it as Tuli's personal opinion.