Report/Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha-2018 : Vision, Action, Transformation

THE RSS Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha concluded in Nagpur on March 11 with the call to take the Sangh work to the grass-roots level in next three years by sticking to the core values and personal touch in functioning

Nagpur: With the Sarkaryavah’s call to expand the Sangh work up to the Mandal level, the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha of RSS concluded on March 11. A total of 1496 Pratinidhis (representatives) from various Prants and Sangh associated organisations attended the annual meeting formally inaugurated by Sarsanghachalak Shri Mohan Bhagwat and Sarkaryavah Shri Bhaiyaji Joshi on March 9 at RSS headquarters premises, Reshim Bagh.
The Pratinidhi Sabha is held in Nagpur after every three years. “In the coming three years we will chalk out a plan to reach the hitherto unreached areas and sections of the society leaving behind all our lacunae. We intend to expand our reach by almost twice of what we have today,” Shri Joshi said.
Briefing the media persons on last day of the Pratinidhi Sabha, Shri Joshi asserted that with the hard work of thousands of karyakartas the Sangh work in the entire country has today reached a satisfactory state. He said it was not easy for an organisation like the RSS to reach 60,000 villages in 90 years and set up over 80,000 Shakhas. “Sangh is not a crowd or mass movement started to achieve some short-term goals and thereby gain popularity, its purpose and mission is to instil in good virtues, build men with character who in turn take this nation to the glory. But the success that the Sangh could achieve in expanding its reach covering almost all social segments and strata is remarkably satisfactory and is indicated by the fact that the acceptability of the Sangh has increased manifold with most people willing to know and understand the RSS. They even evince interest in joining the Sangh work,” he said.
Shri Joshi mentioned the positive response from elite sections of the society to the Sangh work. He cited the example of special Ghosh programme held in Nagpur in November 2017 where the stalwarts from the field of music attending the function gave a standing ovation to the players of ghosh platoon that presented a 60-minute show based on Indian ragas. Equally, during ‘Rashtrodaya’ function held in Meerut, the food packets for the participants were collected from over 3.5 lakh houses cutting across caste, creed and religious barriers. Even the Muslim families came forward to provide food packets. In Tripura, 15,000 people participated in the Sangh programme when there was Communist rule. “All these incidents explicitly underline the growing acceptability of RSS among the cross sections of the society. It has been our consistent endeavour to expand our reach to every nook and corner of the country,” he added.

The Sarkaryavah also stressed on protection and promotion of diverse Indian languages and dialects.  “There is a big question mark on purity of our languages and dialects due to growing influence of foreign languages and entry of foreign words into them. The Sangh is not opposed to learning languages for earning knowledge. But there is a need to preserve and promote our own languages. We appeal to all sections of the society to preserve their mother tongues and dialects and safeguard the literary heritage they contain therein. We must, on priority, use our mother tongues in daily life. We also need to understand the languages of Bharat in order to know Bharat,” he added. Since most dialects do not have script, they need script to document the literature inherent in them. He referred to Bodo Sahitya Parishad resolution to use Devnagari script for their language. He, however, was against the use of Roman script for Indian languages and dialects.

In response to a question on Shri Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Shri Joshi asserted that Mandir would be built, but a certain process has to be followed for this. “The case is pending in the court and we are waiting for its verdict on the title suit,” he said. Consensus on this issue is welcome, he said, but it seems difficult to strike consensus. Those who are associated with this issue from the beginning should be consulted by anybody desirous of finding amicable solution to this vexed issue, he said.

Replying to a question on the spectacular political victory of BJP in north-eastern region, the RSS Sarkaryavah said the Sangh does not believe in political victories with or without the help of some forces. “Our karyakartas are instrumental in the growth of our work and the BJP came to power not only because of the Sangh, but because of the strong yearning for change among the people. The social atmosphere was favourable to the BJP and that reflected in their victories, he said. To a question on RSS support to the BJP, he said a common man in the country is behind the government. He is impressed by the good work of the government. On Lingayat issue of Karnataka, he said the Sangh believes that the sampradayas can be different in Bharat, but they have some fundamental unity elements. We are harping on these fundamentals that underline their unity and remove the differences,
he added.

On farmers’ issue, Shri Bhaiyaji said practical solutions with sensitive approach are required to be found out to the issues farmers are facing. There are many aspects. We need to bring about a change in the farmers’ approach to various problems also. No government can have an insensitive approach to the farmers’ problems. They should give proper price to their products and also encourage the farmers to take to new experiments to improve
their situation.
Replying to a question on political killings in Kerala and Punjab he said the governments should see that such events do not take place at all. But in such cases, the governments have a responsibility to bring the culprits to book. On a question on economic offenders he said the government must take stringent steps to arrest such happenings. Those who have fled the country have borrowed money from the banks. We need to strengthen our system to overcome such types of situations. We need to make our system foolproof and secure, he added.
On destruction of statues in aftermath of Tripura election, Shri Joshi posed a counter question as to why the media failed to create an atmosphere on killings of innocents in Kerala and elsewhere. Stating unequivocally that the RSS condemned all such incidents of desecration of statues, he said the tendency of intolerance and attempt to create confusion and conflict in the society was more serious. The administrations should remain vigilant to thwart any such attempt lest it should vitiate the social harmony and communal peace.
In his Prativedan (report) presented to the Pratinidhi Sabha on first day Shri Joshi said with the growing trust in the Sangh work, the expectations from the Sangh too are growing throughout the country. It is reflected with the participation of the Hindu society in the programmes organised by various Prants. “The Hindu Sammelans organised in the Northeastern States, especially in Tripura, were inspirational in many ways. The admiration expressed by eminent personalities from social, religious, industrial fields indicates the growing acceptability of our work,” he said.
At the same time, the Sarkaryavah expressed grave concern over the incidents of internal strife in the society. “Violence and damage to public property in such incidences is highly condemnable. We have to be careful about the divisive forces. The constructive role of religious, social and political leadership becomes crucial in such situations. It should be our concern that the respect and confidence towards justice and security system should not be broken. We have every right to present our view within the Constitutional and legal system,” he added. Briefing the mediapersons on March 9, RSS Sahsarkaryavah Dr Krishna Gopal informed that representatives from almost 95 per cent districts of the country participated in the meeting. He also briefed about expansion of the Sangh work and also holding of the Sangh Shiksha Vargas. (See box for details)
Quoting the Sarkaryavah Prativedan he said special programmes were conducted across various Prants last year. “One of the significant programmes was Luitparia Hindu Samavesh, which was a massive conglomeration of swayamsevaks from about 80 Janjati communities of Uttar Assam organised at Guwahati on January 21, 2018. A total of 31,351 swayamsevaks in full Sangh uniform participated in the programme.” He also briefed the media about the sewa activities being conducted by Sangh swayamsevaks. He pointed out that the emphasis in coming days would be on expanding the work among the farmers.
On March 8, prior to the beginning of the Pratinidhi Sabha, RSS Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh Dr Manmohan Vadiya informed the media that about 1.25 lakh countrymen, particularly the youth, expressed their desire to join the RSS last year. He said the youth who have attachment with the country’s culture or wish to work for the society want to join the Sangh. He said the educated youth particularly IT professionals are more interested in joining the Sangh.
Six volumes of the ‘Kritiroop Sangh Darshan’ were released by Sarsanghachalak Shri Mohan Bhagwat and Sarkaryavah Shri Bhaiyaji Joshi.  On last day, i.e. March 11, RSS veteran Shri MG Vaidya was felicitated by Sarsanghachalak Shri Bhagwat on his 95th birth anniversary.
— Organiser Bureau