Bhagwat begins Punjab tour amid BJP’s solo poll push

Amritsar: With just a year left to the Punjab assembly elections, one which the BJP plans to contest alone, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat began a three-day visit of Punjab on Tuesday, landing at the Amritsar airport at noon and then heading straight for Pathankot. RSS has maintained that Bhagwat's visit is part of the RSS celebrating its 100th anniversary. However, the timing of the visit is being seen as linked to the assembly elections next year. The RSS is the ideological mentor of the BJP, while the BJP functions as its political arm, though both report that they are independent organisations.Bhagwat landed in Amritsar around noon on Tuesday. An RSS leader who did not wish to be named said Bhagwat will attend a youth ‘ekatrikaran' (unification) programme and hold an interaction with ex-servicemen in Pathankot on Wednesday, and address a Pramukh Jan Goshti in Ludhiana on Thursday. The visit also comes against the backdrop of Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini making regular visits to Punjab. Even when BJP won the 2024 assembly elections in Haryana, RSS's cadre mobilisation, booth-level management and social outreach were widely credited by BJP leaders as a key organisational factor in the victory.