At top body’s meeting, RSS reports 10,000 jump in daily ‘shakha’ numbers

“The number of places where RSS activities are held is 73,646, out of which 51,710 are daily activities and 21,936 are weekly activities. In these places, the total shakhas are 83129, almost 10,000 more than last year. So, our work has expanded,” said RSS leader C R Mukunda, adding that these numbers have been compiled through reports of its volunteers across the country.

“Weekly activities are 32,147, which is 4430 higher than last year. Daily and weekly activities put together are 1,15,276, as reported by our workers coming from different parts of the country,” Mukunda said.

He added the Sangh had been focusing on rural mandals for the last three years, and had registered some success in rural shakhas too.

As a whole, the Sangh has 58,981 rural mandals, he said, adding that 30,770 daily shakhas are now being run in these, marking an increase of 3,050. There are also 9200 weekly activities in the rural mandals, he asserted, taking the number of activities in rural areas to 39,970. He also claimed a jump in the enrolment of new swayamsevaks, asserting that 2,22,962 people joined the RSS in the last year, of whom 1,63,000 were in the 14-25 age group.

Referring to the ‘Join RSS’ feature on the website of the organisation since 2012, Mukunda said, “12,73,453 people have approached us to join the RSS and have been included in our work”. “More than 46,000 women have also shown interest, and we have guided them to various activities of our vichaar parivar,” he said.

While the core RSS enrols only men, there are women’s outfits like the Rashtriya Sewa Samiti associated with the Sangh. The Durga Vahini and Matri Shakti are associated with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), which is part of the Sangh Parivar.

At the meeting, the highest decision-making body of the Sangh began by paying tributes to departed public figures and Sangh functionaries, including former prime minister Manmohan Singh, former minister of external affairs S M Krishna, filmmaker Shyam Benegal, economist Bibek Debroy, and Debendra Pradhan, father of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.