SRINAGAR: In a new revelation A New Delhi based daily Monday reported that Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, ideological mentor of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, is operating 500 shakhas across Muslim majority Jammu and Kashmir.
Quoting a senior RSS functionary Economic Times reported that Sangh shakhas are currently operational in Jammu and Ladakh while RSS is in process of forming a core group in Kashmir where hundreds of potential recruits have already been contacted.
“We are working at around 450 places in Jammu region and 50 places in Ladakh region. In Kashmir, we are still meeting people,” daily quoting the source said.
RSS conducts fortnightly and monthly meetings in different parts of Kashmir through Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM) an organisation floated in 2002 after deliberations and in collaboration with the key RSS members and ideologues and claims to have found scores of sympathisers.
“MRM works independently for upliftment of the Muslim community. They just help to organise meetings in valley,” the RSS member said. MRM functions from Rajbagh area in Srinagar close to BJP headquarters, Economic Times report revealed adding there is a lot of confusion about RSS in Kashmir. “We just believe in selflessness, love and affection,” he said.
After the formation of the People’s Democratic Party-BJP coalition government in the state earlier this year, the opposition National Conference and pro-freedom leadership has expressed fears that the new dispensation has helped the RSSwhich, they allege, has the motive to change the demography of the state on communal ..
“Nagpur has become the new capital of Jammu and Kashmir,” former chief minister Omar Abdullah stated at a protest rally in June in Srinagar.
Last week, reports of an RSS shakha being run inside the Jammu University campus triggered severe political reaction from Hurriyat as well.
On the allegation of help from the new government, the Sangh member said, “RSS does not work through any political party.”
A 45-year-old Muslim professional from Srinagar suburbs, who attends RSS meetings through MRM and convenes many individual meetings, revealed that a closed group on WhatsApp messenger, ‘RSS Kashmir’, disseminates information to a select group of people, the daily reported.
A lot of people are interested to join RSS,” the person said. “However, we are still preparing appropriate syllabus for Kashmir, taking in consideration in cultural and religious sensitivities here. By the end of this year RSS would have gained considerable ground in Kashmir,” ET quoted him as saying.
He said as of now he was not allowed to go public with any details regarding RSS.
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