BADLY in need of a facelift, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and some in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems to have taken a leaf out of the Congress’s book. Uncharacteristic of the RSS, its sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat’s three-day visit to Lucknow was publicised through two dozen hoardings across the city.
They were, however, reportedly removed by Saturday morning. The Congress was recently criticised for a move to put up hoardings of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh along national highways. RSS ideologue M.G. Vaidya defended the hoardings. “Such things are not common practice in the RSS. But we have not prohibited it,” he said.
It has been the RSS’s practice to spread its message through door-to-door signature campaigns. It only displays posters and banners of its inspirational figures such as Keshav Baliram Hedgewar and M.S. Golwalkar.
“Things may change with time. People publicise religious programmes by putting up hoardings and posters. If the Lucknow unit of the RSS believes it is necessary, they can do it,” Vaidya said.
There were an estimated 6,000 shakhas (RSS units) in Uttar Pradesh after the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992.
Their numbers increased to 10,000 in 2000, when Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the Prime Minister. But by April 2004, during the Lok Sabha election, the number declined to 5,000.
Kanpur, considered the biggest centre of the RSS in UP, had 450 shakhas in 2000.
There are only 12 now.
L. T. Joshi, a veteran journalist and RSS activist in Nagpur said over the phone: “ If there is a public programme, workers can use publicity material.” Vidyasagar Shukla, BJP MLA from Lucknow East, had ordered some hoardings for display in Hazratganj.
“ Since Bhagwat was visiting the city for the first time, we decided to welcome him in a big way,” Shukla said.
He said it was necessary because the RSS wanted to increase its membership and the number of shakhas across the state.
For Bhagwat’s visit, over a dozen membership counters were opened at various places, including at the offices of the RSS, the VHP and the BJP. Members of the Sangh Parivar worked overtime to bring youths into the RSS fold.
RSS workers were asked to collect the bio- data of people below the age of 50 who had joined the Sangh in the past five years. The data will be used to understand what future roles the members could be assigned.