Expansion of support base tops agenda at RSS meet

Joshi addressed mediapersons after his third-time re-election as Sarkaryawah and spoke elaborately on the RSS expansion plan. “Over the last three years, we have been able to reach 55,000 villages. We have 6.5 lakh villages in the country. Our endeavour would be to try and reach them all.”

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Joshi said: “We are planning to first reach different mandals, each comprising 10-12 villages, from where we can then reach the villages.” When read with the Sangh’s statements over the last three days supporting the Centre, the message gets clearer: expansion of Sangh work was more important than challenging the Modi government’s wisdom behind issues such as land acquisition (amendment) bill, FDI in insurance and Make in India, something which affiliates like Bharatiya Majdoor Sangh, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh and Swadeshi Jagran Manch have been doing in recent months.

Asked why no political resolutions were taken up at the conclave, Joshi said, “Politics is just one of the forums. Many issues are above politics and need to be addressed at the social levels.”

The conclave adopted two resolutions — first, asking the Union government and those in states to impart education in the mother tongue of students or constitutionally recognised state languages, saying those educated in a foreign language get “alienated” from their culture and tradition. The other resolution called for inclusion of yoga in educational curriculum in India.

It also strongly condemned the attack on a convent school and rape of 71-year-old nun in West Bengal: “Our culture doesn’t condone any such acts. Some people give it a communal colour to create strife. This is not correct. Any woman facing this kind of attack anywhere must be supported by all sections of the society.”

When pointed out that there was a perception that the Sangh runs service projects in tribal areas to prevent conversions, Joshi said, “When we reached out to them to protect their culture and tradition, we found that they were leading a life of deprivation. So, we started the service projects.”

On whether, the RSS has abandoned Ram temple issue, he said:  “The High Court has already ruled there was a temple (Ayodhya). The case is in Supreme Court now. We also believe in judicial process and don’t think it should be disturbed. We should wait for the judgement with patience.”