To finalise the agenda for the Kanpur meet on July 14 and 15, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat will meet other core group leaders of the organisation before the summit.
Highlights
- RSS has called a two-day session in Kanpur next month
- RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat will meet other core group leaders
- Sources Amit Shah may attend the meet for a day to provide input
Amit Shah, the BJP president, is heading the party's effort to win the Uttar Pradesh election next year - the result will be seen as foreshadowing who will be the next Prime Minister.
But like always, the BJP's bid will be influenced and under-pinned by the efforts of its ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh or RSS, which has called a two-day session in Kanpur next month of nearly 300 "prant pracharaks" or regional heads as well as leaders of affiliated organisations.
"The meet on July 14-15 will discuss crucial issues prevailing in UP which include those the RSS has been flagging over the last few years," said a senior RSS functionary, emphasising the recent communal controversies in Kairana in Western UP, and Muzaffarnagar, which was seared by Hindu-Muslim riots in 2013.
The BJP's recent breakthrough in Assam, giving the party its first North Eastern government, is attributed largely to the careful coordination of the RSS which excels in creating and running a matrix of campaigners that start with the grassroots pracharaks.
To finalise the agenda for the Kanpur meet on July 14 and 15, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat will meet other core group leaders of the organisation before the summit.
Sources say the BJP president may attend the meet for a day to provide inputs and discuss strategy.
Sources in the RSS say that in Assam, a "subtle campaign of polarisation" that pledged against allowing in Muslim immigrants from across the border in Bangladesh, and threatening to take away the right to vote for others who migrated decades ago, delivered strong results - in UP, seeped in caste and religion, the RSS may want to follow a similar line.
Just days ago, BJP leader Hukum Singh declared that Hindus had been forced into an "exodus" from the Muslim-dominated town of Kairana because of communal pressure, a claim he was later forced to tamp down.
The challenge will be in creating a blend that places the BJP above the two regional powerhouses- Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party, which currently governs the state, and Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party.