NEW DELHI: The Bihar polls seem to have given a boost to interest in the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh in the state with a sharp increase of 35% in online applications during July-September , helping sustain interest in the Sangh that saw an estimated six lakh persons below the age of 40 join in the 2014 election year.

The Sangh’s recruitment has been steadily increasing, with around 5 lakh signing up in 2013, sources said arguing that elections are not necessarily the sole factor for increased interest in the saffron organization that attracted an average 5,300 online applications monthly in the January-June period this year.

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In Bihar, the average online requests were around 280 a month in the first six months of 2014, but rose to 353, 423 and 727 in the July-September period. In the same interregnum, the national average rose to 6,083, 6,555 and 8,808 per month respectively. The online applications are a small fraction of the number of persons joining the RSS as most do so by simply walking to the nearest shakha.

RSS prachar pramukh (head of publicity) Manmohan Vaidya said “The Sangh’s appeal among younger persons reflects a growing urge among youth to connect with India’s cultural identity and take pride in it. It also shows a desire to serve society.”

Pointing to the online applications from Bihar and an increased presence in shakhas there, Vaidya said “The youth seem to be increasingly fed up with the communal politics of the so-called secular leaders.”

The average per month requests has risen from 1,000 in 2012, 2,500 in 2013 to a high of 7,000 in 2014, when the election and the Modi campaign generated considerable interest in the BJP and the Sangh.

If the numbers of those who join shakhas is taken into account, the Sangh seems to be on a strong footing. Going by the number of new entrants who express a desire to train for RSS work, some 80,000 volunteers in the 13-40 age group participated in seven-day training camps in 2013 and the number went up to 1,15,000 in 2014.

Sangh leaders estimate that about one in six new recruits opt for the more rigorous “prathamik shiksha varga” or seven day camps, pointing to around 6 lakh new entrants to the RSS in 2014 and about 5 lakh in 2013.

Vaidya said that the camps as intended for persons who are keen to be assigned to particular tasks and are ready for a more detailed and rigorous intellectual and physical training exercises.

The rise in RSS’s recruitment is interesting as the saffron organisation’s regimen of physical training and a dress code of white shirts and flaring shorts – though not required for every day meetings – would seem at odds with the preferences of modern youth.

But the steady stream of new entrants, including urban youth, indicates that the Sangh’s “nationalist” ideology and an increase in the BJP’s profile has imbued the saffron outfit with a new found appeal.