In a bid to increase its presence in the south Indian states, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has turned its focus to five states.
While Kerala has the highest number of shakhas in the country, in Tamil Nadu, the Sangh carried out a door-to-door campaign. In Karnataka, a maximum number of members are volunteering for the Sangh’s centenary celebrations to be held in 2025.
According to the Sangh leaders, in Tamil Nadu, they carried out a 20-day door-to-door campaign. “We reached out to as many as 50% of the households. We asked them their opinions on temple management, the Hindu faith, and about RSS. We got a lot of appreciation, and one of the key issues they flagged was conversion. People had strong opinions on that,” a senior functionary of the Sangh told DH.
The functionary said that the general idea was that outreach was a commendable exercise, especially since Tamil Nadu is a state where the Sangh does not have a political base. “In several areas, people asked us why did we not come to the state earlier,” the functionary said.
In Kerala, the Sangh has a little less than 5,000 shakhas, the functionary said.
“The politics in Kerala is different from what we deal with in the north, and we hope to make a lot more inroads in the state soon,” the functionary added.
As many as 3,000 youngsters from across the country are volunteering for the centenary celebrations of the Sangh, to be held in 2025. Among them, the maximum number is from Karnataka.
There are over 83,000 shakhas across 58,000 locations; of these 61,000 are daily shakhas held across 40,000 locations, and 22,000 are weekly shakhas. “We aim to reach 1,00,000 shakhas by 2024,” the functionary said.