The Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), affiliated to the RSS, has announced a membership drive before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The drive that will take place between December 2023 and January 2024 will reach out to farmers to showcase its initiatives.
Additionally, the drive will focus on government schemes for the welfare of the farmer community and address issues related to Minimum Support Price (MSP).
Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh are among the key states that will be covered in the drive.
While it’s natural to perceive the drive as a marketing spin in the build-up to the elections, a BKS source categorically denied that it was a move to access the farmers’ vote bank. He told The Print, “The timing of the membership drive has nothing to do with the elections. We do our own work, which is to reach out to farmers and raise their concerns with the government, whether at the state or the central level.”
The organisation, which claims to have 30 lakh members, is keen to cover a minimum of 1 lakh villages and access more than one crore villagers to make them BKS members, the group’s organising secretary Dinesh Kulkarni informed The Print.
The news and analysis portal quoted an RSS functionary as saying, “It will be an important outreach programme to highlight the welfare measures the government has taken, as well as the work done by the BKS for the uplift of the farmer community and the agriculture sector. There are around 6.5 lakh revenue villages (small administrative units) in India. Our Abhiyan (drive) will focus on connecting farmers with the organisation.”
Another RSS functionary said: “The idea is to reach out to as many farmers as possible, even in the remotest villages. We have been carrying out protests and submitting memorandums to highlight the problems being faced by the agricultural community. To raise these issues more effectively in rural areas, we are looking to make young farmers members of the BKS. Some units at the local level have already started the membership drive.”
