By Papri Sri Raman
Chennai, July 2 – Thousands of activists from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have gathered in the southern tip of the country to discuss issues ranging from Ayodhya to Tibet as well as next year’s general elections.
The RSS, the ideological mentor of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is holding two-day leadership meet on July 5 and 6 at Kanyakumari town in Tamil Nadu.
But thousands of RSS activists are already in the Hindu pilgrimage town for debates and discussions that would be spread over three days and help prepare a firm agenda for the weekend conference.
On the agenda will be diverse issues ranging from Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s trip last month to China – which has drawn criticism that New Delhi had made concessions to Beijing over Tibet — to Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati’s proposals to resolve the temple-mosque dispute in Ayodhya town.
In recent days, RSS leaders have had meetings with the Kancheepuram-based pontiff and have made it clear that they are keen to see a grand temple of Hindu god Ram coming up at the site of the razed Babri mosque.
Also on the anvil would probably be the issue of taking over similar disputed shrines in the towns of Varanasi and Mathura, both in Uttar Pradesh.
The RSS – which heads the fraternity of pro-Hindu groups collectively known as the “Sangh Parviar” – will also discuss the upcoming elections in five states as well as parliamentary elections due next year.
The recent public spat between the BJP and the hardline Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) over the Shankaracharya’s efforts to resolve the Ayodhya row will be under the RSS spotlight as well.
RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav says: “The differences (between VHP, BJP and RSS) are not real, but there is a public perception of these, and we have to address that.”
Many consider the differences between various “Sangh Parivar” groups that are often aired publicly as shadow boxing.
Led by its fifth leader since its birth in 1925, K.S. Sudershan, RSS has a network of 25,000 “shakhas”, or grassroots units, in India as well as in around 150 countries.
Today, the RSS is counted among the most well knit groups in the country and its tentacles reach out to politics, education, culture and religion.
In recent weeks, the VHP has complained to RSS about being sidelined by BJP, particularly on the issue of Ayodhya.
The RSS conclave is seen to particularly significant because it comes at a time when the forces of “Hindutva”, or so-called Hindu nationalists, are slowly making inroads into Tamil Nadu, the bastion of Dravidian politics.
It is a tall order.
Dravidian parties have tightly controlled Tamil politics for 40 years and have often lambasted not only Brahminism but Hinduism as a whole. Some leaders like M Karunanidhi call themselves atheists.
In neighbouring Kerala, the RSS has been at loggerheads with a Congress-ruled government just as much as it is with the Communists.
In Andhra Pradesh, Islamic seminaries have been under RSS scrutiny.
Truly, the RSS could not have a found a better venue than the temple town of Kanyakumari to woo its target audience in the south.
