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A pamphlet from an RSS-inspired outfit asks people to be wary of those ‘spreading rumours about the Constitution, reservation, and SCs and STs’ and choose a government which will put a stop to ‘land jihad, love jihad, religious conversion, stole-pelting, and riots’
Close to 50,000 to 70,000 small meetings are planned by RSS workers with people till the elections — what the organisation terms as its constant Lok Jagran (public awareness) activity. Pic/News18
Just outside the heavily guarded Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh headquarters in Nagpur, a group of workers of the RSS-inspired Lok Jagran Manch are having tea after a quick round of some houses to “inspire” people to vote in bigger numbers in this month’s Maharashtra assembly elections and keep in mind the slogan of “batenge toh katenge” (divided we fall).
A single-page pamphlet being distributed by these workers in Hindi and Marathi reminds people of the mantra that is backed by the RSS and to take a lesson from the April-June general election results. The BJP dropped to just nine seats in the polls in the state with 48 Lok Sabha seats.
‘Stop land jihad, love jihad, religious conversion’
The pamphlet asks people to be wary of those who are “spreading rumours about the Constitution, reservation, and SCs and STs” and choose a government which will put a stop to “land jihad, love jihad, religious conversion, stole-pelting, and riots”. The pamphlet also says that people should realise the difference between one working to improve India’s image on the world stage and one defaming the country abroad – in an apparent reference to Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi, respectively, without naming anyone.
The RSS took a backseat during the Lok Sabha elections after BJP president JP Nadda’s statement that the party was self-sufficient and not dependent on the Sangh like before. But after the Palakkad BJP-RSS coordination meeting two months ago, the Sangh is enthusiastically out and about in this assembly election campaign in Maharashtra. Close to 50,000 to 70,000 small meetings are planned by RSS workers with people till the elections — what the organisation terms as its constant Lok Jagran (public awareness) activity. The RSS had done the same in Haryana – carrying out over 16,000 such meetings, with good results on the recent polls that saw a BJP victory.
At the RSS’s Reshimbagh office in Nagpur, where a big shakha is held daily on the grounds, there seems to be a spring in the step of local Sangh workers too. Maharashtra is a state which the RSS knows best and is most entrenched — with its headquarters in Nagpur. The RSS also has a close equation with top BJP leaders of the state — Devendra Fadnavis and Nitin Gadkari. In fact, Fadnavis recently said he had reached out to the RSS after the Lok Sabha results for “help to fight anarchists and vote jihadis”, saying that the Sangh does not do any overt political work.
Workers speak
Workers of the RSS-inspired Lok Jagran Manch, Vidarbha, told CNN-News18 in Nagpur that after their daily shakha, they are reaching out to like-minded people to inspire them to vote in large numbers. “We tell people that they can vote for any party, but they must vote. We have also prepared a pamphlet that we are distributing, we have not named any party in it,” a worker said, sharing the handout.
He said their campaign is against “love jihad, land jihad and stone-pelters”. “We appeal to people to vote for Hindutva forces. They ask us who they should vote for. We say vote for anyone but keep issues in mind. We want to tell people that no one can change the Constitution, and it is a false narrative among Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes that reservations will go away. The Constitution written by Bhimrao Ambedkar cannot be changed by anyone at all,” the worker said.
In the Lok Sabha election campaign, the Congress had told the SCs and STs that the BJP would change the Constitution and scrap reservations if it gets an absolute majority. “We want to tell people to ignore such rumours and wrong notions. Galat-fehmi mein mat rehiye (don’t be misled),” the worker said. Other workers said people are now wiser and they have also fixed a target of achieving at least 80% voting in Nagpur’s assembly constituencies.
“People understand which party is working and which party will safeguard the country and society’s future. Our intention is to speak to people to vote for the right party,” the second worker said. Another worker said people understand who is doing development in the country and who is active. “People understand which party is corrupt…and who is developing our cities and villages. Citizens are much wiser to not vote on lines of caste and religion…these can be issues for your home and not for politics,” the third worker said.
In his Dussehra address, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had encouraged BJP workers to go out and forge friendships with Dalits. After an RSS meeting in Mathura, the organisation backed the cause of Hindu unity and gave its nod to the slogan coined by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath: “Batenge toh katenge”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also cited the slogan and added one to it in the Maharashtra and Jharkhand campaign, saying, “Ek hain toh safe hain” (If we are united, we are safe). It seems the BJP and RSS are now firmly back in sync after the Haryana poll win.
