Top leaders of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the BJP are to discuss the farmer protest and the upcoming Bengal and Assam elections, among other issues, at a three-day co-ordination meeting that started in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar on Tuesday.
Although no decision is taken at such meetings, the BJP will get to know the RSS’s views on the new farm laws and take feedback from the ground from a host of Sangh parivar outfits working in different areas.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and BJP president J.P. Nadda, along with over 150 delegates drawn from over two dozen Sangh-affiliated outfits, are taking part in the meeting.
The biannual meeting, anchored by the RSS that is considered the head of the Sangh family, is held to get feedback, share experiences and discuss key national and regional issues.
On the farm laws, the RSS-affiliated Swadeshi Jagran Manch has already suggested several amendments, including a legally guaranteed minimum support price, which the protesting farmers have been demanding. The Narendra Modi government has so far held off the farmers’ key demands.
“At the meeting, top leaders of the RSS could give their suggestions to the BJP on how to resolve the crisis,” an RSS leader said.
Internally, the RSS attaches a lot of significance to a harmonious relationship between the Hindus and the Sikhs and is learnt to be concerned over the way the farmer protest appears to be turning the Sikhs against the BJP.
“The government passed the farm laws in a hurry without wider consultations. There are a lot of flaws,” an RSS leader associated with farmers said. “The government has to fix base or floor prices for different agri-products and make them legally binding or else farmers will be exploited by market forces,” the leader added.
This leader claimed that the government so far has been firm that a legal guarantee on MSP would defeat the very purpose of the laws aimed to reform and open up the agri-sector.
The other big agenda for discussion during the meeting would be the upcoming Bengal and Assam polls. While the BJP is confident about retaining Assam, the party wants all wings of the Sangh parivar to give their best to win the politically and ideologically significant Bengal.
BJP chief Nadda, who visited Bengal recently, is likely to share his feedback and receive “vital inputs” from the Sangh affiliates, sources said.
The RSS has been known to mobilise its ground cadres with keen interest when it comes to achieving ideological goals like winning elections in Bengal. At the meeting, the BJP, along with other RSS affiliates, will work out a coordinated strategy on ground mobilisation ahead of the elections.
Apart from some issues, the RSS is learnt to be happy with Prime Minister Modi, given the way most ideologically crucial goals such as the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya and scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 have been achieved without any big controversy. Fund raising for the construction of the temple will also be discussed at the meeting.
“So, even if the RSS has some misgivings about certain issues like the farm laws, it will not go beyond a point to exert pressure on the Modi government,” an RSS leader said, pointing out that the Sangh has got more than it had expected from the Modi government.
