india

Updated: Jan 05, 2020 05:03 IST

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh wants the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government to now focus on issues like economy and education after favourable outcomes of issues like the Citizenship (Amendment) Act it has led sustained campaigns for, according to people aware of the developments.

The CAA was passed in December to fast-track citizenship for non-Muslims, who have arrived in India before December 31, 2014, from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The passage came a month after the Supreme Court on November 9 ruled in favour of the Hindu parties in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case and paved the way for the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya. In August, Constitution’s Article 370 was nullified to end Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, which RSS had long campaigned against.

Sangh functionaries, who spoke to HT on condition of anonymity, said a series of meetings have been scheduled in January between RSS leaders and the government representatives to discuss issues like education, economy, trade and commerce and culture.

Such meetings usually involving general secretary and joint general secretaries of the RSS, which is the BJP’s ideological fountainhead, apart from leaders from other affiliates of the organisation are an annual feature.

Issues that are of concern to the Sangh are specifically raised annually, said an RSS functionary. “There is a sense of accomplishment [over issues like resolution of Ram Temple dispute], but the Sangh feels there is a need to do more and going forward the focus should be on economy and education in particular.”

A second functionary said the RSS is concerned over the delay in announcing a New Education Policy though its draft was released in May. “Another area of concern in the education sector is the ongoing unrest across campuses, which is being fostered by those with vested interests. There is a pattern that has emerged first with anti-national slogans that were raised in some universities followed by the sustained narrative building on national issues.”

The second functionary cited the protests against the CAA and insisted that they were being supported across campuses “even though the legislation does not target any Indian citizen nor is it divisive”.

Ajay Gudavarthy, a professor at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, said RSS’s interest in the education sector is part of its core strategy. “The RSS thinks much of the progressive, liberal stream of thought comes from the higher education institutions, which is why there is a crisis in the sector.” Gudavarthy added the trend is to dismantle autonomy and the public education system. “By introducing the concept of graded autonomy, they are linking finances to autonomy in the higher education sector…”

On the economic front, the RSS and its affiliates like the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh and the Laghu Udyog Bharati (LUB) have urged the government to announce policies that will give a fillip to the manufacturing sector and help create jobs.

“The government is making efforts to bring the economy on track, but we need more aid for domestic manufacturing. We have already conveyed our demand for a separate policy for small and micro sectors instead of clubbing these together. We are hopeful that just as the government decided against signing the RCEP [Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership], it will heed our other demands as well,” said a LUB member.

Swadeshi is another area that the RSS wants the government to focus on. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently, in his radio programme Mann ki Baat, urged citizens to pledge to buy local products. The RSS wants this to be done in a sustained manner.

“We have to begin with encouraging local use of the [Indian] products and take it to other levels such a large scale production of consumables. It will lead to self-reliance as well as give India more power to negotiate at trade forums,” said a third functionary.

On the international front, the Sangh wants India to continue to have an aggressive response to cross-border terror, and a muscular foreign policy vis-à-vis China and Pakistan.