Gujarat: Hindutva oranisations wilt, while Hindutva peddler Narendra Modi stays afloat

From: The Times of India

Pracharak blooms, Parivar wilts
Ajay Umat, TNN | Oct 3, 2012, 06.49AM IST

AHMEDABAD: When a pracharak took over reins of Gujarat, already dubbed as the laboratory of Hindutva, everybody believed that the Sangh Parivar would grow stronger in the state. But, 4,000-days Narendra Modi rule has scripted a different story. While Moditva has blossomed, Hindutva outfits have taken a beating.

The membership of most Sangh-affiliated outfits has plummeted. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which ran about 1,500 shakhas in Gujarat until 2001, when Modi took centre-stage, manages just about 1,000 shakhas today. Attendance is down by an estimated 50 per cent.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), Durga Vahini, Bajrang Dal, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad, among other parivar's branches, have withered.

Ten years ago, ABVP had a membership base of 94,000 students. Today, it has halved. BKS, which had 22.5 lakh members in 2003, when the body fought tooth and nail against Modi government over the issue of electricity to farmers, is the worst sufferer with the membership having shrunk to just over 6 lakh.

Senior Sangh functionaries say the trend is not just limited to Gujarat. "But Modi has not patronized Parivar outfits at all. He built his own brand but damaged other organizations," says Ranchod Bharwad, general secretary of VHP.

There have been conflicts between Modi and the various Sangh Parivar outfits. Bharwad says VHP is upset with Modi government over the issue of demolition of illegal temple structures, allotting grazing land to industrial houses and cow slaughter.

The BKS was forcibly evicted from their Gandhinagar office building by the state government in 2005.

"We could pressurize Congress governments through strong agitations but Modi has reversed all that," says Mangalbhai Patel, former organising secretary of BKS.