RSS to lend BJP helping hand in polls, will ‘motivate’ voters
The Sangh’s focus will be on motivating people to pick a party that chooses policies of national interest over those inclined towards votebank politics and ant-national sentiments.
NEW DELHI: Ahead of the Delhi assembly polls, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) will carry out campaigns and meeting at more than 20,000 places in the Capital to give the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) an edge over its opponents.
“The Sangh’s focus will be on motivating people to pick a party that chooses policies of national interest over those inclined towards votebank politics and anti-national sentiments,” said a functionary aware of the details.
Though the Sangh distances itself from electoral politics and refrains from seeking votes directly for the BJP, it drums up support for issues that figure in the party’s manifesto or are aligned to its ideology.
Delhi will go to polls on February 8 and the results will be announced on February 11 for the 70-member Assembly.
RSS FUNCTIONARY
According to another functionary aware of the matter, the decision to hit the streets of the Capital, where anti- CAA protests have been continuing, was taken at a meeting on the weekend that was also attended by the BJP’S Delhi unit chief Manoj Tewari.
“The Sangh is not seeking support for the BJP per se. But when you see political parties that support the tukde-tukde gang instead of standing by people who are raising issues of national security, or offering shelter to persecuted people in need, there people have to be encouraged t o ma k e a n informed choice,” said the first functionary.
Door-to-door visits and meetings at street corners to counter the narrative that the BJP is anti-muslim or the Citizenship (Amendment) Act will disenfranchise them will be undertaken.
On whether the RSS will offer suggestions on ticket distribution, the second functionary said, organisational decisions have been left to the party, but the Sangh will be sharing its inputs from the ground with the party on issues related to the campaign and candidates.
The BJP, which has announced it will go to polls on the basis of its development agenda and people-friendly policies, had managed to win only three of the 70 seats in the last Assembly polls.