BJP-RSS deliberations focus on Sangh, sangathan & sarkar

Lucknow: Hindutva and coordination of party high brass with ground-level organisational workers is learnt to have figured prominently in the ongoing discussions between CM Yogi Adityanath and RSS functionaries in UP as the BJP gears up for the assembly elections next year,Sources privy to the meeting said that Yogi sought first-hand feedback from the Sangh leaders about the ground situation to identify gaps in booth-level organisation, social outreach and ideological messaging to counter opposition, primarily the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance.
The meeting, experts said, blended Sangh (RSS), Sangathan (Organisation) and Sarkar (govt) — the three key elements driving BJP's poll machinery and past electoral success. The RSS provides ideological grounding and a disciplined cadre network, the party organisation handles political mobilisation, and the govt delivers governance narratives.Sources said that accompanied by UP BJP chief Pankaj Chaudhary and state general secretary (organisation) Dharam Pal Singh, Yogi attended coordination meetings in all the six organisational zones -- West UP, Braj, Awadh, Bundelkhand-Kanpur, Kashi and Gorakhpur -- in the past 10 days. The emphasis on Hindutva has been a key to BJP's political narrative in the past decade. For Yogi, a key Hindutva figure, reinforcing the ideological plank can consolidate the BJP's core base, while countering the opposition's attempts to build caste-based alliances, analysts said.This is the first time in Yogi's second term that such extensive coordination meetings with RSS functionaries are being organised.Analysts point out that similar exercises were undertaken during his first tenure ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and before the 2022 assembly elections. It resulted in the BJP winning 62 seats out of 80 in 2019 and returning to power in UP in 2022.However, analysts said that a purported reduction in Sangh cadre activity during the 2024 LS elections raised concerns within the BJP because the party performed well nationally, but UP results were not encouraging. The current round of meetings is to revive coordination among the govt, the BJP organisation and the RSS cadre.Yogi had already held interactions with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in recent months. On Nov 24 last year, the CM met Bhagwat in Ayodhya for a nearly 90-minute closed-door meeting followed by 30-minute discussion in February this year in Lucknow. Likewise, between Nov 18 and 26 last year, RSS functionaries conducted a series of review meetings in Lucknow with state ministers and senior bureaucrats.Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Women's day wishes, messages and quotes !