BHOPAL: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological fountainhead of the ruling BJP, added 12,025 daily shakhas and expanded its network of swayamsevaks to 10,241 additional locations during its centenary year, which culminated with the festival of Vijayadashami recently.
Briefing journalists on the three-day RSS Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal Baithak, which concluded in Indore on Wednesday, the organisation's Sarkaryavah (general secretary), Dattatreya Hosabale, said the meeting reviewed the growth of shakhas and public outreach programmes during the centenary year.
"The total number of locations covered by shakhas, including daily shakhas and weekly and monthly assemblies, reached 1,03,397. This represents an expansion to an additional 10,241 locations across the country during the centenary year. The number of daily shakhas increased by 12,025 to reach 99,423 nationwide. These shakhas were held at 63,208 locations, an increase of 8,156. Weekly assemblies also increased by 2,600 to 34,982, while monthly assemblies registered a rise of 463 to reach 14,096 during the same period," he told journalists.
Highlighting the growth of RSS shakhas in West Bengal, Hosabale said, "The number of shakhas in West Bengal has grown 150 times since the situation changed (following the change of government in the state). Earlier, we faced physical opposition while holding our shakhas in the eastern state, which is no longer the case. Owing to similar opposition, we lost four dedicated workers in Tripura in the past."
"The RSS shakhas are now being held in the remotest parts of the country, including weekly shakhas in 48 areas of Arunachal Pradesh. Two shakhas have also been started in Mizoram, which has a negligible Hindu population. We also have shakhas in Ladakh. Our prants (regional units), particularly in western Uttar Pradesh and the Malwa region of western and south-western Madhya Pradesh, have shakhas in all mandals," he said.
"Further, every village in 444 mandals of Kerala now has an RSS shakha. In Port Blair, RSS programmes organised during the centenary year were attended by more than 5,000 people, including residents of 13 adjoining smaller islands," he added.
During the centenary year, around five crore people attended Hindu Sammelans organised by the RSS across 65,664 villages and 28,584 urban localities.
Ruling out the possibility of the Sangh becoming an international organisation, Hosabale said, "Although RSS swayamsevaks are present in 80-100 countries, where they work with the Hindu population in accordance with the laws of the respective countries, there is no plan to make the Sangh an international organisation. In 2015, an event was organised in Indore, which was attended by RSS swayamsevaks working independently in other countries and drawing inspiration from the Sangh. However, the RSS operates within India's boundaries, and there is no plan to make it an international organisation."
Referring to RSS chief Dr Mohan Bhagwat's visits to the US, Canada and the UK a few months ago, Hosabale said the visits were made at the invitation of people interested in understanding the RSS's vision of the entire world being one family.
"The visits were also essential to counter the false propaganda and narratives about the RSS being spread in legislatures, the media and educational institutions in those countries. If a government-associated body in the US calls for action against the RSS, even when the organisation is not working there, then we have to present the actual picture of the RSS in those countries," he said.
On women's participation in RSS programmes, Hosabale said around 95% of the Hindu Sammelans organised across the country during the centenary year had at least one female speaker.
He added that women also participated in all the Samajik Sadbhav Baithaks (social harmony meetings) held at 13,000 locations.