Hyderabad: Mohan Bhagwat, Sar Sanghachalak of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) who camped for three days in Hyderabad for a regional conclave of the organisation, has told his senior leaders who also had their stint in the BJP that there was scope for tremendous growth of the party in Telangana in the coming years before the next elections. He only spoke of the need to strengthen the organisation from the grassroots level.
Telangana always occupied a special place in the priorities of RSS right from the early 1940s when Hindu outfits fought against the Nizam’s rule in Hyderabad state. Most of the nationalists who were banned by the Nizam sarkar fled to Nagpur in Maharashtra and developed close ties with the RSS whose headquarters were there. Former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao was one among them.
The entire brass of RSS, including BJP general secretaries Ram Madhav, Muralidhar Rao, Union Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy, Sangh top functionaries Aley Shyam and Dakshina Murthy who look after central southern parts, and MPs and legislators were present at these brainstorming sessions held at a private educational institution campus on the outskirts of the city from 24 to 26 December. The event is named as “Vijay Sankalp”.
What surprised the RSS top leadership is the failure of local BJP leaders to expand their presence in Telangana even after winning four Lok Sabha seats in the general elections in May this year. The party, which had five MLAs before the Assembly elections in December 2018, had lost four seats and is left with a single seat now. BJP lost deposit in the Huzurnagar Assembly byelection held in October.
Though Bhagwat spoke of generalities like the need to reach out to newer sections of society and explained the efforts made by the Modi-led government to sustain the core ideology of RSS and BJP, the underlining theme was the urgency to take advantage of the political flux in Telangana and come to power by next elections, according to sources present at these meetings.
One significant feature of these meetings was the inclusion of some senior leaders who had quit other parties like Congress, TDP and TRS and joined BJP in the last one year. TDP’s Rajya Sabha member Garikapati Rammohan Rao, former minister D.K. Aruna, former MPs A.P. Jitender Reddy, G. Vivek and several others belonged to this new entrants group.
Some years ago, such leaders who migrated into BJP from other parties were kept aside for long, as they were new to the culture of the Sangh and its affiliates. This compelled some of them to feel isolated or ignored and they returned to their parties. But, since the Modi government came to power at the Centre, the new entrants are being given importance not only in BJP, but also at RSS meetings.
Much to the relief of Sangh’s top brass, these leaders turned up at the RSS sessions in its uniform of white and khakhi. The RSS also noted significant rise in its cadre and units in Telangana in the last few years. Decisions like abrogation of Article 370 and doing away with triple talaq etc., have encouraged new members into the RSS fold.
The chief of RSS smelt a chance for the expansion of BJP in Telangana as the ruling TRS led by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) has been adopting pro-Muslim policies and appeasing his ally, AIMIM. As per Bhagwat, a majority of people in the country are supporting the recent decisions of the Modi government like Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) etc. The BJP should reach to this majority of people, as per Bhagwat.
Interestingly, Chief Minister KCR gave audience to a Muslim delegation led by AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi on 26 December, the same day of RSS public meeting at Saroornagar in Hyderabad and assured them that his government won’t implement the CAA and NRC in Telangana. KCR sent his representatives to a public meeting organised by AIMIM at Nizamabad on Friday. The meeting was attended by several outfits, including United Muslim Action Front.