Three-day RSS meet begins in Gujarat with focus on expansion of base

Ahmedabad: A three-day meeting of the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha, the top decision-making body of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), began near Ahmedabad in Gujarat on Friday.

The closed-door event being held at Pirana village will see the participation of nearly 1,200 key leaders or office-bearers from across the country, including sarsanghchalak (RSS chief) Mohan Bhagwat and sarkaryavah Dattatreya Hosabale. One of the key focus areas of the meeting is expansion of the organisation’s base, said Manmohan Vaidya, sah sarkaryavah (joint general secretary) of the RSS, while addressing the media on the first day of the meeting.

The RSS runs nearly 60,000 daily shakhas (branches) across the country and 97.5 per cent shakhas have started functioning again after the easing of COVID-19 related restrictions, he said.

”Those who attend these 60,000 shakhas constitute 61 per cent of school or college students. This shows that the number of youths taking interest in the RSS is increasing. Ninety-four per cent of the total 2,303 cities in the country have shakhas. It shows that our spread is increasing,” Vaidya said.

”There are 59,000 mandals in the country. Each mandal comprises 10 to 12 villages. In the next two years, the RSS will try to expand its base and work for establishing shakhas in all the mandals. Our work in that direction came to a standstill due to coronavirus. Now we are planning to achieve it during the next two years,” the senior RSS functionary said. Apart from those joining the RSS through shakhas, a significant number of people are expressing their interest in becoming a part of it through the ”Join RSS” campaign being run on the organisation’s website, according to Vaidya.

Between 2017 and 2021, as many as 1 lakh to 1.25 lakh persons expressed desire to join the RSS every year, he said, adding that people from Malwa (central India) and West Bengal had sent more requests in comparison to other regions in 2021.

A detailed plan about the expansion of the RSS’s base will be prepared during this three-day meet. Other topics which will be discussed include creating harmony in society and promoting organic farming. Vaidya said.