RSS to train affiliate organisations to show a united face, back up Modi

NEW DELHI: The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh will hold a four-day training programme for its affiliate organisations next week to get the rank and file of the Sangh Parivar battle ready and present a united front in the next general elections.

The training programme for members of the BJP, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and others will be held from November 2-6 in Ghaziabad, RSS insiders said.

“Sangh leaders had in their annual Diwali baithak held in Kochi this year stressed on the need to present a united front before the next elections,” a senior RSS office bearer said. “Matters of ideology were discussed threadbare, from the Gadgil report on the Western Ghats to the economy and this will be communicated to all, so that there is no difference in approach,” he said.

RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat had made it clear that he would brook no difference in public statements when it came to the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

In one of his rallies, Modi had said he considered the construction of toilets more important than the construction of temples (“Devalaya se pehle shauchalaya”). VHP leader Pravin Togadia had protested against this statement. “We are stunned and shocked to hear about the unnecessary mention of temples by Narendra Modi in a statement wherein he was talking about the need for better sanitation facilities in the country,” Togadia had said then. “We too believe in the need for better hygiene. But the way temples were dragged in the matter was uncalled for. It is nothing short of an insult to the Hindu society,” he added.

Togadia had wanted a condemnation from the BJP as well, but instead he was snubbed by the RSS sarsanghchalak. “Bhagwatji made it clear that whenever this question would come, the Sangh’s stance would be that both temples and toilets are important. Modi was not to face this kind of embarrassment,” the RSS office bearer quoted earlier added.

RSS plans an intensive voter-registration programme for first-time voters from January. The training programme in Ghaziabad will discuss how best to marshal resources for the same, including training on how to use mobile apps and other technology to aid the project.