RSS to repair ties with dalits

Members to fan out into rural areas in UP on Raksha Bandhan, tie rakhis.

In a renewed attempt to build bridges with dalits in Uttar Pradesh, the RSS and BJP will now be using the Raksha Bandhan festival on August 18 to reach out to dalits once again.

Though the RSS celebrates the festival every year, the magnitude of the event will be much larger this year in view of the upcoming Assembly elections and also the recent Dayashankar episode that widened the gap between dalits and other castes.

According to Sangh sources, members in all the 10,000-odd shakhas in the state will fan out into the rural interiors and slum dwellings on Raksha Bandhan and tie rakhi on dalits. The Rashtriya Sevika Samiti, the women wing of the RSS and the BJP’s Mahila Morcha will also participate in the festival and interact with dalit women.

Talking to this correspondent, a Sangh leader said, “This year, we will make sure that our volunteers reach every dalit household in the urban as well as rural areas. The Raksha Bandhan festival is symbolic of social harmony and we want our dalit brothers and sisters to be a part of social mainstream.”

The RSS apparently feels that the Dayashankar episode has damaged BJP’s relationship with dalit voters though it has not benefited the BSP yet.

“There is still scope for repairing the damage because dalits continue to remain disillusioned with the BSP. The episode was an aberration and this is what we want to clarify to the dalits.”

“Our volunteers will visit dalit homes and explain to them all the projects that the Modi government has launched for them. We will clear all doubts that they may have and increase the level of communication,” the leader explained.

State BJP president Keshav Maurya said that party workers will also explain to dalits how they are being targeted in the Akhilesh regime and how atrocities on them have shot up.

The BJP has already drawn up a list of dalit populated areas in each Assembly constituency and party workers will be closely coordinating with local RSS leaders.

The RSS is confident that if it can win back dalits through these measures, the BJP would have little problem in getting a majority on its own in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.