“Of course, the role of women is increasing in Sangh. Earlier, we did not have Parivar Sammelans. It is not that we were against the idea, but the circumstances were different. Today, we conduct Kutumb Prabhodhan, which is separate activity. We keep telling members of our karyakarini (executive) members) that they must go together for family outing—at least once every year. When we insist on karyakarta and their families – this include the women members. We already have gat padhhati (a group of swayamsevks led by a person) in Sangh where Swayamsevaks have connected till the kitchen of their group members. This was a medium to take Sangh to home, to those members who do not directly attend the shakha,” said RSS Sarsanghchalak Dr Mohan Bhagwat.
Sarsanghchalak Dr Bhagwat further said, “After Covid, when for nearly two years shakha was conducted at home, women are likely to be more active. They want to be more active and they are demanding greater roles. Several women are making use of their learnings from shakha to start their own activities and programmes. They are participating in Sangh activities and inviting many others to it. For example, today, I went to a home for Lunch.
The lady of the house must have seen the shakha during the Corona period when it was conducted from home. Taking inspiration from the same, she completed her Yoga training and joined a few formal courses too. Now she runs an online assist and people from all across the world join her. So now she has an activity to take care of. Just as the swayamsevaks contribute, the swayamsevikas contribute too. There has been an increase in the number of such inspired women who are joining us.”
“Now we have started telling our karyakartas that before taking any firm steps in direction, if such women come to us, we should not tell them to go to the Samiti. Because as of today, the Samiti does not have that much of strength, (in terms of Shakhas and Swayamsevaika). They will also expect to involve these women in some activities till the time they become more capacious; to make local arrangements to engage these enthusiastic women. Because they’re inspired; because they wish to know the Sangh whose swayamsevaks are known to do much good work; because they too want to do something constructive.
For them, Sangh champions noble values which they wish to impart to their children, they want to understand us firsthand. We will have to find a way to accommodate them. We must think about it. During the days of Dr Sahab we situation was not conducive enough to think about it, but today we can think about it. However, there are women workers of Samiti who are already working among women and in consultaion with them we will work out something,” Sarsanghchalak Dr Mohan Bhagwat added.
