The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is set to hold its annual executive council meeting in Indore from November 2, with organisational restructuring, its centenary celebrations and current political issues expected to dominate discussions.
The three-day Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal (ABKM) meeting assumes added importance as it comes four months before the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS) meeting in March next year, when the Sangh will hold its organisational elections.
RSS to shift from prants to sambhags
The meeting will formally set in motion a new organisational structure under which the RSS plans to replace prants with sambhags, or divisions. The change is aimed at expanding the organisation’s reach and strengthening its presence on the ground.
As part of the restructuring, prant pracharaks will be replaced by sambhag pracharaks. The number of pracharaks is expected to rise from 46 to 85, while the number of kendras, or state-level units, will be reduced from 11 to nine.
“We will take stock of the centenary celebrations and the impact of the outreach that was planned. But since this meeting comes ahead of the ABPS and the elections for picking the new Sarkaryavah (general secretary), the meeting will roll out the new organisational structure of replacing prants with sambhags (division),” a functionary said.
Elections to follow November meeting
The organisational changes will be followed by elections at different levels. State units will elect new karyakarnis, or executive bodies, along with sambhag sangachalak and kshetra sangachalaks.
The latter will elect the RSS general secretary, or Sarkaryavah, at the ABPS meeting in March. Dattatreya Hosabale was elected to a second term in 2024. The Sarkaryavah serves a three-year term, with no limit on the number of terms.
SIR, UCC likely to figure in discussions
The RSS leadership is also expected to discuss political and social issues, including the controversy over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and concerns surrounding the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC).
RSS outreach head Sunil Ambekar on Tuesday reiterated the organisation’s support for UCC and a mechanism such as the National Register of Citizens to identify illegal residents.
On SIR, Ambekar said that electoral rolls containing names that violate the rules should be corrected through a legally sound process.
“In a democracy, there are avenues for seeking recourse against injustices…but if there are wrong people on the electoral list, it is wrong to accept them as citizens of this country for anyone’s political benefit,” he said.
The ABKM meeting will also review the RSS’s centenary celebrations and the outreach undertaken as part of the programme.