With the government on the back foot over the issue of UGC regulations aimed at curbing caste-based discrimination in higher education institutions and Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh looming, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is planning a year-long programme to reach out to the Dalit community through a countrywide celebration of the 650th birth anniversary of Sant Ravidas.
“This is the 650th birth anniversary of Sant Ravidas. He was a pioneer of samajik samrasta (social harmony). A statement will be issued on Sant Ravidas’s anniversary during the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS) baithak. Throughout the anniversary year, RSS workers will organise events commemorating his ideas and his work. And wherever such events are organised by others, RSS workers will participate and contribute,” RSS publicity-in-charge Sunil Ambekar said on Wednesday.
Ambekar was addressing the media ahead of the three-day ABPS meeting beginning on March 13 at Samalkha in Haryana. ABPS is the RSS’s highest decision-making body, where all top leaders, pracharaks, and representatives from over 30 associate organisations gather to discuss Sangh plans for the year and contemporary issues impacting society.
The UGC Equity Regulations 2026 have emerged as a flashpoint in higher education policy debates since their notification on January 13, putting the government on the defensive amid protests and judicial intervention. Upper caste groups have protested the exclusion of ‘general category’ students from explicit protections under the rules, but following a stay from the Supreme Court, OBCs and Dalits are also said to be upset. These are all vote banks that the BJP has been trying to woo, and coming ahead of the UP polls in 2027, the issue has put the party in a spot of bother.
“While on one side, the upper castes are angry, on the other, the Supreme Court stay has led to mobilisation among Jatavs in UP. This is not good for society,” an RSS functionary said.
Sant Ravidas occupies a central place in the religious and social consciousness of many Dalit communities in North India, especially the Jatav and Chamar castes. A 15th-century Bhakti saint traditionally believed to have been born in a Chamar family of leather workers in Varanasi, Ravidas’s poetry rejected caste hierarchy and emphasised spiritual equality, dignity of labour and direct devotion to God.
For Jatav and Chamar communities in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab and parts of north India, Ravidas has long served not only as a spiritual guide but also as a symbol of assertion and self-respect, with Ravidas temples, deras, and community organisations forming important spaces of identity, mobilisation and social reform.
Sources said the issue would be discussed at the meeting. “The meeting might throw up some ideas as to how to deal with the situation. What are the changes that can be made to the regulations so that all sections of society feel satisfied. They will be shared with the government. Meanwhile, our job is to reach out to people and connect with them, including on this issue. We will continue to do that,” the RSS functionary said.
Giving details of other RSS programmes, Ambekar said that as part of the centenary celebrations of the Sangh, ‘Grih Sampark’ and ‘Hindu Sammelan’ are being conducted.
“Under the Grih Sampark programme, we have reached 10 crore households. Hindu Sammelans are being conducted at the mandal and basti levels. We are getting a good response to Sangh work. How we can increase public participation, what plans we need to come up with to help those who want to associate with Sangh work, are some of the things we will discuss during the assembly. In the past year, the Sangh has added 6,000 more shakhas,” he said.
According to Ambekar, people were also joining the RSS online through its website. “Every year, around 1.25 lakh people join us through the ‘Join RSS’ vertical on our website. Last January, 16,192 people showed interest in joining the RSS. This year, in the same period, this figure is at 26,445,” he said.
He added that this year the Sangh will conduct 73 training programmes for those under 40 years of age, and 25 for those above 40.
Students take part in a torchlight procession organised by the Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti demanding implementation of the UGC Regulations. (Source: PTI Photo) 
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