Pulwama, not Ram temple, is now No 1 poll issue of RSS

NAGPUR: The Pulwama attack seems to have prompted RSS to change its strategy by prioritising the issue of terrorism over Ram temple.

This was reflected in a meeting of the Sangh’s Vidarbha ‘prant’ which was held here on Tuesday and attended by representatives of all the 36 constituents of the Sangh Parivaar. RSS is currently holding such ‘prant’ (regional) level meetings across the country to fine-tune its campaign that is to begin early next month.

As part of RSS’s objective to fully back Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s re-election in the Lok Sabha elections, a less intensive ‘ghar-ghar Modi’ drive started earlier this month focussing essentially on the Ram temple issue. However, after the attack on February 14 on the CRPF convoy, the Sangh went back to the drawing board and re-designed the campaign, RSS sources said. Now, instead of the Ram temple, the focus would be on “the need to have a stable government that India would need to tackle the worsening situation in Kashmir,” sources added.

Sangh Parivar activists would now try to convince every family they call on about the need to have Modi back as PM to helm a stable government.

A booklet on the talking points to highlight achievements of the Modi government in the last five years and comparisons with over 50 years of the Congress rule has also been distributed to the parivar activists.

The activists have been given special instructions to not just meet the already ideologically inclined families but to fan out to meet those known to be aligned to non-BJP parties or holding a neutral stance. “If needed, they will be meeting them repeatedly till they convince them how the country would benefit from Modi getting re-elected,” Sangh sources said.