RSS to create awareness to ensure 100 per cent voting: Joshi

Senior RSS leader Bhaiyaji Joshi Sunday said the Sangh will work towards creating awareness to ensure 100 per cent voting. The three-day conclave of the RSS' Akhil Bhartiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS), which concluded here Sunday, also discussed running "religious awakening" campaigns and "promoting nationalism", another RSS leader said.

The ABPS is the highest decision-making body of Sangh, the ideological parent of the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). Joshi, who is the general secretary of the RSS, also observed that time has come to expand Sangh's work in a "big way", which insiders said is the Hindutva fountainhead's strategy to expand its footprint in rural India, which is facing agrarian issues, with a "human face and a religious touch".

"The RSS's work has reached a certain level. We feel now that time has come to take a big leap in terms of expansion of the work," Joshi told reporters here on the final day of the ABPS. He said Sangh always believed that maximum voting should take place. "Voters in the country are intelligent enough (to understand) the issues to vote for. We will work for creating awareness to ensure 100 per cent voting," he said.

The Election Commission Sunday announced that the Lok Sabha polls will be held in seven phases in the country, beginning April 11. "Our society has started thinking more clearly over a period of time, and the people now know who works for the nation's betterment," Joshi added.

A Sangh leader said top brass of the organisation discussed sending volunteers to villages connected with main roadways of districts to run "Mukh Marg Karya" (MMK) drive for "bringing social and economic change and uplifting the people". The ABPS has also decided that a local level RSS leader would form a team of 10-15 people with Sangh leanings, to promote education and cleanliness among other things in their respective villages, he said.

Under MMK, Sangh volunteers will focus on issues like the welfare and protection of cows, safeguarding environment, promoting sports, he said. Improving the dairy and cottage industry sectors to bring in economic development of villages is also part of the MMK drive, the leader said.

"We have already been working in rural areas since the last two to three years," he added. The ABPS conclave also held discussions on running religious awakening campaigns and "promoting nationalism", another Sangh leader said, adding talks were also held on building a strong base of Sangh in rural areas.

"The meeting emphasised on holding gatherings on festivals like Holi etc, and holding 'Bharat Mata Pujan' in rural areas," he added. According to insiders, the RSS wants to form more than 60,000 mandals of 10 villages each to cover more than six lakh villages across India.

Nagpur-headquartered RSS is known for its strong dedicated cadres who work in various parts of the country. It is generally believed that the legwork of the Sangh volunteers lays the foundation for the BJP's voter outreach.

When contacted, Madhya Pradesh BJP spokesman Rajnish Agrawal said, "We generally believe that high voting percentage benefits our party." Agrawal also added that elections could be won if voters are motivated to exercise their franchise.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)