The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), ideological mothership of the ruling BJP, will be holding the annual meeting of its most significant decision–making body, the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS) between March 11-13 in Ahmedabad, where the organisation will discuss issues of contemporary relevance including the hijab row and the Bill to raise the age of marriage for women to 21.
Keeping COVID–19 in mind, the ABPS will be smaller with some members being at the meet physically and several others joining online.
The annual meet is held as a stock–taking exercise with all associated organisations with their top leadership including the BJP in attendance. Senior Sangh office–bearers told The Hindu that the hijab row that escalated from a college in Udupi in Karnataka to an all India issue and the government’s Bill (now with a Parliamentary committee for scrutiny) may also be discussed in the meeting.
Sources in the RSS said with regard to the hijab row, the feeling was that the controversy was local and could have been handled without it burgeoning nationally, with myriad implications. The role of the Popular Front of India (PFI) in this was also underlined by Sangh sources.
On the question of raising the age of marriage for women to 21 the same as men, sources said the government had good reasons for doing so with regard to improving maternal and infant health, but that the reference of the Bill to a parliamentary committee was a welcome step in “getting all views on board, fully”.
“Many issues of contemporary resonance in society are discussed during the ABPS meetings, both formally and informally. Some find mention in official resolutions passed in the meet, some don’t and are just for perspective building within the organisations attached to us,” said a source.
The main focus will be on the preparations for the centenary celebrations of the RSS, which was founded in 1925. While it has already been decided that some literature tracing the history of the organisation will be brought out in the centenary year, other aspects of marking 100 years of the RSS will also be discussed.
