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Social reforms, Bangladesh on agenda as key RSS meet begins in Kerala

A key three-day conclave of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of the Centre’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), began in Kerala’s Palakkad on Saturday.
According to senior RSS office-bearer Sunil Ambekar, the ‘2024 Akhil Bharatiya Samanvay Baithak’ is a meeting of the multiple RSS-linked organisations, and not an executive meeting of the Sangh.
(1.) RSS will launch ‘five initiatives for social reformation and nation building’ ahead of its 100th anniversary, due in September 2025.
(2.) These are ‘Samajik Samrasta’, ‘Kutumb Prabodhan’, ’Paryavaran Sanrakshan’, ‘’Swadeshi’ and ‘Nagrik Kartavya’.
(3.) Bangladesh, where Sheikh Hasina was ousted as prime minister on August 5 and the subsequent attacks on minorities, including Hindus, will also be discussed.
(4.) Another press conference will be held after the meeting concludes on Monday, Ambekar added.
(5.) As many as 32 RSS-linked organisations, represented by 320 ‘karyakartas’ are participating in the event.
(6.) RSS ‘sarsanghchalak’ Mohan Bhagwat and six joint general secretaries will also attend the seminar.
(7.) The meeting comes amid reports of a ‘rift’ between the RSS and BJP. In the recent Lok Sabha elections, the saffron party won 240 seats, down from 282 in 2014 and 303 in 2019, largely due to this alleged rift.
(8.) Though it failed to secure a third successive majority, the BJP formed government with its allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
(9.) In Uttar Pradesh, which sends the highest 80 members to the 543-seat Lok Sabha and where the BJP has been in power since March 2017, its tally slipped to 33, behind local rival Samajwadi Party (37).
(10.) The party had won 71 and 62 seats in 2014 and 2019, respectively, in Uttar Pradesh.
(With PTI inputs)

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