Naxalism discussed at length during Amit Shah’s Mangaluru visit

MANGALURU: Naxalism in the heartland of India, evangelism in areas hit by leftwing extremism, Sabarimala shrine row and Ram temple are some of the hot-button issues which were reportedly discussed at a meeting of RSS workers here on Wednesday.

Taking time off from assembly poll campaigning, BJP national president Amit Shah arrived in Mangaluru to address the gathering of workers who are attending a six-day training programme. About 250 RSS volunteers from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Maharashtra were part of the meet that started on Sunday and will conclude on Thursday. “This is a training camp for ‘pracharaks’,” a source said.

The camp is being held at Sanghanikethan, the RSS office in Mangaluru, and it’s supervised by RSS general secretary Suresh ‘Bhaiyajji’ Joshi. The camp — officially called Pracharak Varg — comes close on heels of a similar meet from six zonal units of the northern states held in Vyasbagh, near Varanasi, earlier in the week.

Though there was no official briefing on the Mangaluru proceedings of the day, sources claimed that naxalism — especially Red terror in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra — was discussed at length. “Pracharaks have a role to play in safeguarding tribal interests, besides combating evangelization in Naxal-dominated regions,” a source said.

Sources said Amit Shah and ‘Bhaiyyaji’ Joshi held incamera talks, and construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya is said to have figured in their discussions. Tthe BJP’s top organisational functionaries from Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu held talks with RSS ideologues over recent political developments, including Sabarimala issue.