Mansa, Punjab (May 30, 2014): As per media reports Hindutva body RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh) has started his activities with full intensity in Punjab.
According to information available with the Sikh Siyasat News (SSN) the RSS chief, Mohan Bhagwat, on May 30 held a closed-door meeting with Dera Beas head Gurinder Singh Dhillon at Narain Sarvhitkari Mandir School in Mansa.
The RSS has reportedly been holding a training camp in the school since May 25.
According to The Tribune (TT), the Dera Radha Soami Beas followers and RSS workers were tight-lipped over the agenda of the meeting. The dera head landed at Dera Radha Soami here at 11.50 am, a few metres from the school.
As per information at 12.20 pm, Dera Radha Swami Beas head Gurinder Singh Dhillon entered the school premises and was with the RSS chief till 12.58 pm. (No other person was present at the meeting). He left the Mansa dera at At 1.23 pm.
The RSS chief reached Mansa on May 28 evening to impart training to 222 Swayamsewaks, all aged between 18-40 years. The trainees are from five states — Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir. The 20-day camp will end on June 15. Bhagwat is scheduled to leave Mansa tomorrow. Another training camp will be begin in Malerkotla on June 1. The district authorities have deployed 20 policemen at the training camp site.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Bhupinder Singh Khattra said a large number of policemen had also been deployed in the vicinity of the dera.
It is for the first time that the RSS is holding a camp for its activists at Mansa.
According to The Tribune (TT) [a]t least 350 frontline activists, trainers and instructors of the RSS are attending the camp. The RSS and the BJP presence in the Malwa region, comprising Mansa, Barnala, Bathinda, Faridkot, Moga, Muktsar and Sangrur districts, is negligible. The BJP and the RSS already has a sound base in the Majha and Doaba regions. Hence, the RSS is trying to strike roots in the Malwa belt, which has a considerable urban population.
As per TT the only known RSS leader from Malwa was late Babu Hit Abilashi. He belonged to Budhlada.
As of now, the BJP has a strong base in Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur districts.
Informed sources said the RSS top brass had deliberately selected Mansa for the camp. It intended to inspire more and more youths from the Malwa belt to join the RSS ranks and prepare the ground for the BJP .
The BJP is a political ally of the SAD in Punjab as well as at the India level. The SAD (Badal) has in recent years inducted Hindu leaders in its rank and file, particularly in the Malwa region. As of now, the party has at least four Hindu MLAs from Malwa.
“It appears that the RSS has realised the need to establish a political base in Malwa. That is why it has chosen Malerkotla for its next camp” senior jouralist Sarabjit Dhaliwal notes in his report published by The Tribune.