Top Central Ministers, BJP leaders, RSS brass and functionaries of its affiliates on Wednesday joined a major three-day brainstorming exercise to take stock of a range of key social, economic and national security issues faced by the country and to prepare a roadmap for the tasks in hand for the next six months.
Though RSS leaders maintained that the meeting was an internal exercise to set agenda for its ‘Prtinidhi Sabha’ (next year), they did not rule out discussions on major political issues, including the forthcoming Bihar polls with its “ideological friends” over the next two days.
Sources said that the issue of one-rank-one-pension for Armymen also reportedly came up for discussion and it was felt that it should be expeditiously resolved. However, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav, maintained that OROP and Ram temple issues were not discussed on the opening day of the meeting.
“Ram Mandir and OROP were not matter of discussion today, and any report saying that it happened is absolutely false. OROP is a Government policy and its implementation is a Government matter,” Madhav told the reporters here.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagawat, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu, Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ananth Kumar, and Health Minister JP Nadda were among those present on the first day along with BJP president Amit Shah.
He added that the meeting was not conducted to discuss Government’s performance but to discuss national matters like national security, agriculture growth and social issues.
Madhav said that the Opposition leaders are making “baseless” statements by claiming that the meeting is a review of the Modi Government’s policies or programmes.
Patel agitation in Gujarat, ‘deflated’ land Bill and contentious labour reforms which has put Sangh outfits at the loggerheads with the Government may also be discussed in the next two days.
The RSS outfit ‘Bhartiya Shikshan Mandal’ (BSM), which is expected to submit its final report on education policy to the HRD Ministry early next year, may also seek to put across its viewpoint in the meeting on the National Education policy.
Besides BSM, fifteen other affiliates of the RSS, including Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh and Bhartiya Kisan Sangh, Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM) are set to “exchange notes” over relevant issues during the coordination meeting.
The SJM has been raising its voce against genetically modified crops, foreign direct investment, strategic sale of Government assets to raise money and opening Indian banks to foreign companies — all part of Modi Government’s economic agenda. It had recently protested against the controversial changes in the land acquisition Bill. A total of 93 high-level functionaries are attending the deliberations of which 25 are from RSS and the rest from its affiliates.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be attending the coordination meet “at his own convenience” during the week. In the next two-days, some more heavy weights in the Modi Cabinet are likely to attend the ‘Samanvay baithak’ and give their assessment on crucial subjects. While some sought to see the exercise as an appraisal exercise for the fifteen-month-old BJP Government at the Centre, the RSS has maintained that it was neither meant to review the Government’s performance nor to take any decision but only to “exchange notes” and deliberate over the inputs provided by the participants.
The latest religious census, which indicated a decline in the Hindu population below the 80-crore mark and a marginal increase in Muslim population, is expected to be taken up before Friday.
According to sources, with feedback on the ground, the RSS wants a “course correction” ahead of high-stake Assembly elections in Bihar in October-November.
brainstorming exercise