Nagpur: Over a thousand people living in in Pune-Mumbai for work or other reasons but are registered as voters in or around Nagpur will get a free ride home so they can exercise their franchise here on Wednesday. Scores of sleeper buses have been arranged from Pune. This is just an indication of how the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have worked in tandem for the elections this time.
If the BJP-led Mahayuti manages to retain power when votes are counted on Saturday, its ideological lynchpin RSS should get fair share of credit for it. Sources close to RSS say the Sangh Parivar involvement this time is unconditional and at an unprecedented level.
Days ahead of the polling day, messages were out on Whatsapp groups by Vidarbha Mitra Mandal about the arrangements made for Nagpur voters from Pune. The buses starting from Sangamwadi bus stand in Pune on Tuesday night are to reach here on Wednesday morning well in time for voting. Not only the travel is free , even free food packets are to be provided for all.
After the underwhelming performance in Lok Sabha elections in June, the BJP wasted no time to repair the burnt bridges and reconciled with its ideological backbone The result was seen in the Haryana assembly elections where the BJP won the state against all predictions of a sure Congress victory. The RSS magic was at work.
Through several meetings, the BJP and RSS top bosses ended the ego tussle that was kicked off by party’s national president J P Nadda that the party no longer depended on the Sangh cadre support at election times.
According to Sangh observer Dilip Deodhar, the RSS and Sangh have worked as a close-knit unit. The coordination committees were revamped as Atul Limaye, Sangh’s sahsarkaryavah, was given the charge of election work. In ticket distribution the state leadership had its say.
“In several assembly constituencies, we have conducted door-to-door campaigns twice,” said a senior RSS activist.
A voter from the West Nagpur assembly constituency, said RSS activists visited his Ram Nagar home twice — first represented by a women’s group and then as a mixed team — distributing written material urging voters to support “dharma” and achieve 100 per cent turnout.
A senior leader of sangh parivar, who is an office bearer of Rashtriya Muslim Manch, a frontal organisation of RSS, claimed that almost all the sangh outfits (there are 37 frontal organisations in RSS, including Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Swadeshi Jagran Manch Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad) worked round the clock to ensure the BJP-led alliance retains power in Maharashtra.
“We are also deeply involved in voters’ awareness campaigns and telling everyone to cast their votes religiously,” he said. Right from Ganesh festival, Durga Navratri and Kojagiri, small meetings were arranged in every locality to consolidate the Hindus. “Family shkahas were organised to unite communities and spread the message of unity well ahead of the elections,” said Deodhar who has been keeping close eye on the RSS role.
“Never in the past, not even in post-Emergency 1977 or 2014, such concerted effort by RSS was witnessed to influence the voters,” Deodhar stressed. He was sure this would lead to surprising positive results for the Mahayuti.
