NEW DELHI: The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh’s three-day conclave with the heads of the affiliates during January 5-7 in Ahmedabad is likely to set the tone for the Union Budget. The exercise, known for “exchange of notes”, will be a first for the top RSS functionaries to share their feedback on the state of economy, particularly the pain of the people, on account of the prolonged lockdown phases.
“The last biannual meeting couldn’t take place because of Covid and lockdowns. This will be the first coordination meeting of the top echelons of the RSS with the heads of the affiliates, besides a few senior Union ministers, after the outbreak of the Covid outbreak,” a source said.
“The RSS leadership will be coming for the meeting after completing the six-month ‘pravas’, and take up key issues, including economy due to the large scale impact on the people.” While the RSS functionaries have been zealously lending their voices to the Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign, sources said that the subsequent “economic package not addressing the pain of the business downturns particularly of the excessive employment losses due to lockdowns may be discussed among the functionaries.
With BJP chief J P Nadda in the audience, the conclave may suggest the NDA government to take concrete and expedient steps to address the economic stress of the people. A few of the RSS affiliates are likely to raise the issue of the “government rushing in with important legislations on farm and labour without enough consultations with the stakeholders”.
The BJP is likely to share party’s assessment of the next year’s West Bengal Assembly elections. For the Sangh, the BJP’s political trajectory in West Bengal is of keen interest, sources said, adding that the full might of the saffron organisations would pool in their resources in their bid to wrest power in the state.