The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is running an election machinery parallel to the one put in place by the Bharatiya Janata Party for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, highly placed sources in the RSS have said.
“The message is being spread through evening shakhas and pracharaks (campaigners). The swayamsevaks are also ensuring maximum voter registration,” said the sources adding that party workers may even monitor booths on voting day.
However, top RSS ideologue M.G. Vaidya said, “No one is being sent for the campaign. But if swayamsevaks are willing to work, then no one will stop them.”
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He claimed that the verbal assaults by some senior Congress leaders, including Digvijaya Singh and Jairam Ramesh, on the RSS had “backfired”.
“Because of the direct attack on the RSS, all the 35 organisations of the Sangh Parivar, including the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal have united and started working for the BJP,” Mr. Vaidya said.
“The result is there for all to see. This is how Raman Singh could win a difficult election in Chhattisgarh.”
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However, RSS and BJP officebearers were less forthcoming on the direct involvement of the Sangh in the elections.
BJP spokesperson Tarun Vijay said, “The initiatives are being taken at an individual level but no one is being asked to campaign. The country is witnessing a wave of change and the swayamsevaks may also want to be a part of this change because every swayamsevak is also a voter.”
Writer Dilip Deodhar, who has previously worked with the RSS, said: “The Hindu terrorism accusations created nervousness in the Parivar and now they want take control of the State power at any cost.”
“Post 1977, this is the first time that the RSS has been so active in electoral politics,” said Sudhir Pathak, a former editor of Tarun Bharat , a Marathi daily that has RSS leanings.
“Today’s situation is worse than that of 1977. People are losing faith in the system, there is a leadership crisis. The 2014 election is a battle and it has to fought,” said Virag Pachpore, an RSS swayamsevak and pracharak for over 15 years.