RSS nationwide campaign to expand outreach, unite Hindus | Lucknow News
Lucknow: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has planned a nationwide public outreach campaign to connect with maximum households as part of its attempt to expand social footprints and ramp up the Hindutva narrative.The month-long Greh Sampark Abhiyan will be carried out from Nov 20 to Dec 21, during which over 25 lakh RSS karyakartas will fan out across the country to distribute Sangh-backed literature and posters of ‘Bharat Mata’ among people.The literature, sources said, will detail the essence of RSS, its ideology, functioning and the goals it seeks to achieve. Sangh plans to promote its five-fold programme (called Panch Parivartan): family values, environmental protection, swadeshi/indigenous self-reliance, civic duty, and social harmony, educating households around these themes.In UP alone, the campaign will cover over 1 crore households in six organisational regions, sources said.The campaign comes almost five months after RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat, during his visit to Kanpur in June this year, exhorted Sangh members to reach out to families and work to unite all Hindus. Bhagwat had underscored the RSS goal of building a social inequality-free society and being responsible to the nation.RSS sources said the broader idea of the campaign is to bring together Hindus and ratchet up the Sanatan narrative. The campaign is also timed with the organisation’s centenary year, giving it a symbolic importance and momentum.Political experts said the centenary year provides a narrative and momentum. RSS has already issued an appeal: “100 years of RSS, let us make the next century count.” The campaigns, timed with this milestone, can energise volunteers and attract public attention, sources said.Experts, however, noted that the campaign, primarily based around Hindu unity, may raise concerns among minority groups or those who often see RSS as exclusionary.Sources said the campaign will allow the RSS to collect household data besides enriching its ground-level inputs and make a denser network of contacts. This, in turn, would help the Sangh to enhance its ability to mobilise people for social campaigns and help the BJP in its political spadework.RSS sources claimed the outreach will certainly impact the political sphere by shaping perceptions, identifying ‘confused’ or ‘angry’ voters, and influencing opinion.Analysts said the RSS campaign will help it in influencing public opinions, voter behaviour, and key social alignments ahead of the upcoming electoral battles, specially the 2027 UP elections.
