Khakis eclipse pyjamas in Bengal

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">KOLKATA: The RSS rally in the heart of the city on Wednesday has underlined the Sangh Parivar''s strategy to target Left Front-ruled West Bengal, particularly its middle class.<br />And if the number of Bengalis in the columns of swayamsevaks in khaki shorts and black caps in the Shahid Minar Maidan is any indication of its growth, it seems to be time for the Marxists to face the new challenge.<br />RSS chief K.S.Sudarshan spoke for about two hours in Bengali. Huge portraits of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo were displayed. He quoted Tagore in support of his bracketing Indian Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and others into the Sangh vision of Hindu nationalism.<br />Ironically, his attack on the Centre''s economic policies, "dictated by the West and the World Bank, IMF and WTO", sounded like the Marxist critique of Manmohanomics.<br />State BJP chief Tathagata Roy and his deputy Rahul Sinha attended the rally in full RSS uniform. While Roy posed before the camera, his predecessor Asim Ghosh was found rows behind. The emergence of khaki-attired Roy and the eclipse of pyjama-clad Ghosh heralded the post-Gujarat change in Sangh strategy for West Bengal.<br />A major thrust came from the Scheduled Castes and OBCs, particularly recent Hindu evictees from Bangladesh, and tribals. Physical and martial training for "Hindu self-defence" in districts may turn them into "steel", said an RSS pracharak. Biru Hembram and his friends from the Sundarbans had little idea of RSS ideology, but came to the rally with organisers of the Vanabasi Kalyan Ashram.<br />Sangh leaders say there are 2,000 RSS <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">upashakhas </span>in the state, including 350 in Kolkata. Each has 15 regulars and 450-500 other activists. About 400 new <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">shakhas</span> have come up in the past year with 37 in the city. Now, the expansion is marked not only in border districts, but in north Bengal and the tribal and OBC belts of south Bengal as well.</div> </div>