Farmers Movement Archive

RSS plans big rural outreach, special campaign for farmers

Lucknow: Seeking to increase its footprints in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, RSS has hammered out a plan for scaling up the number of shakhas (branches) in the rural areas. In Awadh Prant, which comprises 25 districts, the Sangh has set a target of establishing shakhas and mandlis (meeting of sangh functionaries once a week) in 1,819 divisions, essentially comprising gram panchayats. At present shakhas are being organised in 1065 divisions in Awadh Prant. Prant Karyawah (Regional secretary) Prashant Shukla said that the exercise is being planned in the run up to the centenary celebration of RSS in 2025. The RSS was founded by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar on September 27, 1925. “We would be able to meet the target before the centenary celebrations. The aim is to reach every village and majras,” he said. The RSS demarcates UP into six prants – Braj, Meerut (also comprising Uttarakhand), Kanpur, Awadh, Gorakhpur and Kashi (Varanasi). An RSS functionary said that Sangh seeks to reach out maximum possible people and help them develop physically, mentally and spiritually. “The 'shakhas’ are designed to help a person develop as a volunteer, a team member, a leader. They help a person to become more confident and aware. They also help with personal and professional networking, getting over shyness, fear of public speaking and other personally limiting characteristics. All the activities are mostly based on traditional Hindu or Indian practices,” he said. At the same time, the RSS has decided to carry out a special campaign to help farmers increase fertility of their land and increase their produce. Termed as 'Bhumi Suposhan Abhiyan’ (land nutrition campaign) the campaign will be carried out between April 13 and July 24, said RSS Sahprant Sanghchalak, Sunit Khare. “We would exhort the farmers to opt for organic farming and other necessary measures that could increase their productivity,” he said. The RSS farmer outreach comes amid stir by the farming community against the new farm laws. Khare said that the decision to carry out the land nutrition campaign was taken at the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha of RSS which was organised in Bengaluru earlier this week. The meeting saw a change of guard in RSS Dattatreya Hosabale replacing Suresh Bhaiyya ji Joshi as Sar-Karyavah or General Secretary. The Sar-Karyavah is the one who is in charge of the organisation’s day-to-day activities. The Pratinidhi Sabha also passed the resolution on construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, terming the development as a golden chapter which would inspire the upcoming generations for years. The Sangh has also hailed the crowd-funding for the Ram Temple as an initiative that projects emotional bonding of people with the project. The foundation stone of Ram Temple was laid by PM Narendra Modi on August 5.

The Times of India

2021-03-27

Lucknow