Mumbai: In a sign of the growing importance of the RSS in Maharashtra politics, almost all BJP and Shiv Sena MLAs, including Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, visited the right-wing outfit’s Nagpur headquarters on Thursday. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar stayed away from the visit, but two MLAs from his party joined BJP and Shiv Sena leaders.
Along with Mr. Fadnavis and Mr. Shinde and other ministers and MLAs, Shinde paid tributes to RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar and the second ‘Sarsanghchalak’ MS Golwalkar.
“This is not the first time I have come to the silk garden; I have visited here before. My association with the Sangh and the Sangh Parivar dates back to my childhood. I grew up within a Sangh family,” said Mr. Shinde.
Speaker Rahul Narvekar, Deputy Speaker of Legislative Council Neelam Gorhe also participated in the delegation. Deepak Tamshettywar, ‘Province Pracharak’ of Vidarbha and other RSS members welcomed the delegation and shared insights about the functioning and ongoing initiatives of the RSS.
Mr. Shinde said that he joined the RSS branch before joining the Shiv Sena because of the influence of Balasaheb Thackeray and his guru Anand Dighe. “The ideologies of the Sangh Parivar and the Shiv Sena are close. We can learn a lot from the Sangh Parivar about working with total dedication. Sangh volunteers serve without seeking any recognition. Sangh’s contribution to the service of our country is undeniable. Sangh’s teachings are unity, not division,” He said.
Calling the RSS Smriti Mandir, which houses the memorials of Hedgewar and Golwalkar, a “holy place”, Mr Shinde said, “Here we should learn to help others without any expectations from the Sangh Parivar.”
In the recently concluded provincial assembly elections, the Mahayuti alliance won a huge majority. The RSS is believed to have played an important role in the election campaign, which enabled the alliance of BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP to win 234 seats in the 288-member assembly.
Interestingly, Ajit Pawar, who is also a key figure in the Mahayuti government, continues to skip visits to the RSS headquarters. This was the third time Mr. Pawar refused to visit the RSS headquarters. Shortly after joining the Mahayuti, he stayed away from the tour, where all Mahayuti MLAs were invited. Again in September this year, he did not join Mr. Fadnavis and Mr. Shinde for the ‘Reshimbagh’ visit, though he attended other events in Nagpur on the same day.
However, two NCP MLAs, Raju Karemore and Rajkumar Badole, attended the event. Mr. Badole’s appearance did not surprise many as he joined the Ajit Pawar-led party from the BJP days before the Assembly elections as part of an electoral adjustment. But Mr Carremore’s presence raised some eyebrows. He denied receiving any order from his party against visiting the RSS headquarters. “I came here of my own free will. I have not been given any instructions by the party not to go to Smriti Mandir. I will discuss this with Ajit Pawar,’ he said.