BENGALURU: The Akhila Bharatiya Pratinidi Sabha, the highest decision-making body of RSS, started its two-day meet on Friday morning and it will elect a new Sarkaryavah (General Secretary) on Saturday. Though around 1,500 delegates participate in such meetings, this time due to Covid the numbers are less than 500, with most participating online.
In March last year, ABPS was cancelled due to the pandemic. This year, it was to be held at Nagpur, as it is done traditionally, but due to increasing Covid cases in Maharashtra, it was shifted to Bengaluru, said Manmohan Vaidya, RSS Sah Sarkaryavah. “The meeting happens every year where we deliberate on the year gone by and plan for the next three years,” he added.
As part of the Ram Mandir Nidhi Samarpan campaign, approximately 20 lakh RSS workers reached out to 5,45,737 locations and contacted 12,47,21,000 people, he said. The meet will pass a resolution on the unity expressed in the country during the campaign, he added.On the nature of discussions at ABPS, Vaidya clarified that no political issues will be discussed. “Any involvement of RSS will be the same as what the Constitution mandates for every citizen,” he said.
On the allegation that houses of people who did not donate for Ram Mandir were marked, he clarified that there is no such practice and the allegations are unfounded.“RSS Swayamsevaks were active throughout the lockdown, helping people. Despite the scare of infection, around 5.7 lakh RSS Karyakartas served at 92,656 locations across the country. Ration was distributed to around 73 lakh needy and food packets were distributed to 4.5 crore people.
“About 90 lakh masks were distributed and more than 60,000 units of blood were donated. Swayamsevaks helped more than 20 lakh migrant workers,” he said.Due to the pandemic, RSS Shakhas and other Sangh events had completely stopped between March and June last year. Shakas gradually resumed only in July.
As compared to March last year, most of the shakhas have become active again. In all, 89 per cent of Shakhas have restarted and the remaining will resume gradually. Sangh Shakhas are present in all districts and in about 6,495 taluks. The Sangh network is expanding and in the next three years, the Sangh aims to reach all mandals in the country, he added.