Kerala: 3-day RSS coordination meet begins; LS polls, Bangladesh crisis to be discussed

The meeting will be held from August 31 to September 2.

New Delhi: An analysis of the Lok Sabha elections, the future course after the Bangladesh crisis and report cards from all its affiliates will be part of the discussions at the three-day Akhil Bharatiya Samnanway Baithak, the annual meet of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh that started in Kerala’s Palakkad on Saturday.

Over 300 delegates from 32 RSS affiliates are attending; from the BJP, president JP Nadda and organisational secretary BL Santosh attended the meet. The meet began on Saturday with the gathering taking a moment to remember the lives lost in the Wayanad landslide and a discussion on the work put in by RSS cadre in the aftermath.

RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat, Sarkaryavah Dattatreya Hosabale, all the six Sah-Sarkaryavahs of the Sangh and other national office-bearers took part in the meeting. Of the 320 delegates invited, 230 workers are from affiliated organisations and 90 workers are with the Sangh.

Additionally, Vishwa Hindu Parishad president Alok Kumar and General Secretary Bajrang Bagra, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad Organising Secretary Ashish Chauhan, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh President Hiranmay Pandya were among those present, apart from national presidents, organising secretaries and national leaders of the 32 Sangh affiliated.

As the meeting began, all the attendees took a moment for the recent landslide in Wayanad and the relief and service work done by the Swayamsevaks, a release from the RSS stated.

“Organising Secreteries of various organisations will present and exchange information and experiences about their activities. Apart from this, the meeting will discuss the current scenario, recent important events and other dimensions of social transformation and schemes in the context of various issues of national interest,” the release stated.

All the 32 organisations will also discuss necessary measures to increase mutual cooperation and coordination. The current socio-political situation in the country and the neighborhood, especially Bangladesh, will be discussed, as well as the BJP’s sub-par results in the Lok Sabha elections.

The 'baithak' is the first such meet in Kerala. On Friday, RSS media chief Sunil Ambekar said that the Sangh will also discuss details of its centenary celebrations which falls on Vijayadashami in 2025. To this end, the Sangh will be launching five initiatives for social reformation and nation building.

“These initiatives are samajik samrasta (social harmony), kutumb prabodhan (family awakening), paryavaran sanrakshan (environmental issues), swa (selfhood) and nagrik kartavya (civic duties),” Ambekar said.

While several informal meetings between the BJP and the Sangh have taken place in the past few weeks, this is the first time after the Lok Sabha elections that the two organisations have shared a formal platform. During the elections, a rift was reported between the two organisations, and a comment by JP Nadda during an interview that the BJP was now 'saksham' (independent) enough and did not need the RSS was seen as fuelling the rift.