Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has been travelling frequently and holding a series of meetings with functionaries of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), in what is being projected as the first such instance in his second term.
Within the last three days, Yogi has travelled to Ghaziabad and Kanpur and is scheduled to visit Agra on Saturday. He had earlier chaired feedback meetings in Lucknow, Gorakhpur and Varanasi before Holi.
BJP state chief Pankaj Chaudhary and BJP state organisation secretary Dharmpal Singh are also part of the discussions, apart from the zonal incharges of BJP and RSS setup.
A BJP leader from Uttar Pradesh told ThePrint that such coordination meetings are being held for the first time in the chief minister’s second tenure.
In the first term, similar meetings were organised in 2018, a year before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, and again in 2021, ahead of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh polls. The BJP delivered an impressive performance in both elections, winning 62 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 and securing 255 seats in 2022.
“It may just be a coincidence, but such meetings were not held before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, when the party’s tally in the state dropped sharply from 62 to 33 seats,” the leader told ThePrint
Elections are due next year in Uttar Pradesh, and Yogi will be hoping for a third consecutive term in power.
These meetings are no coincidence as Yogi has been frequently sitting with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in the past few months. On 24 November last year, the CM met Bhagwat in Ayodhya for a nearly 90-minute closed-door discussion. In February, they met for almost 40 minutes, further fuelling discussions in political circles about the ongoing consultations between the state government and the RSS leadership.
Between 18 and 26 November, Sangh functionaries held a series of review meetings with ministers and bureaucrats in Lucknow.
“Yogi’s move to increase coordination with the RSS is a positive step for him,” UP-based political analyst S.K. Dwivedi explained to ThePrint. “The active involvement of RSS cadres will be crucial for the 2027 polls. In 2024, there were reports of a decline in their activities, which also affected the results. Therefore, reaching out to the RSS for genuine feedback is a good approach.”
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‘Hindu unity’
According to a BJP/RSS insider, when a Sangh functionary was discussing outreach to different castes and communities in Ghaziabad meeting, Yogi insisted that his slogan “Ek rahoge to nek rahoge, batoge toh katoge (Remain united to be safe, or face otherwise if divided)’ should be conveyed to every caste group in the present circumstances.
He, this insider said, was hinting to give a message of Hindu unity.
Several functionaries who attended the meetings told ThePrint that the feedback from RSS leaders was “more candid and unfiltered than expected” with meetings stretching beyond two hours in every zone.
The functionaries were vocal, raising issues from local corruption and farmers’ concerns to pointing out the lack of coordination between the Sangathan (organisation) and the Sarkar (government), they said.
“We clearly told the CM that corruption continues at the local level. Police stations and government offices are still plagued by corrupt practices. If there is a policy of zero tolerance towards corruption of senior officials, why is it not being implemented at the grassroots level?” a senior RSS functionary, who attended Ghaziabad meeting of Meerut Prant (West UP) Thursday, told ThePrint.
He added that Yogi acknowledged the concern and assured them that action would be taken.
Another point that came up for discussions was government officials “neglecting” BJP and RSS functionaries.
Though there has been some improvement in coordination in bigger towns,
a Sangh leader said, the situation in rural areas remains largely unchanged.
“We cited several examples to explain the problem. Our workers often find it difficult to even secure an emergency hospital bed in the National Capital Region. If relatives of ministers or officials can get admitted easily, why not our workers?” he said.
The chief minister was taken aback and assured them that he would speak to district magistrates and other officials, the Sangh functionary said.
A RSS pracharak said such candid discussions had not taken place in the last five years. “We told the CM and the BJP state chief in Lucknow that coordination between the government and the RSS needs to improve.”
At the same time, the RSS appreciated the government’s decision to increase the honorarium of Shiksha Mitras. “This issue was raised in earlier meetings, and the government has now acted on it,” the pracharak said.
Since these meetings include regional office-bearers, the feedback the chief minister receives is direct and largely free from censorship or filtration by bureaucrats or Sangh functionaries.
Such meetings clearly indicate the importance the RSS accords to the next year’s Uttar Pradesh polls, he said.
The leader added that Sangh meetings were held in December as well, but in a different format. “Those were not regional group meetings.” At that time, plans were firmed up for events marking the RSS’s 100th anniversary
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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