RSS finds firm footing among backward castes in West Bengal

"...The Sangh's rapid growth in Bengal - 25% in 12 months since March 2013 - explains Bhagwat's focus on a state where the BJP and its ideological guardian, the RSS, had always been virtually non-existent. "Our daily sakhas increased from 820 in March 2013 to 1,010 by March this year," Jishnu Basu, publicity head of the RSS' south Bengal unit, told HT. The RSS deems a sakha or a unit 'daily' if it functions continuously for 15 days. By July, the RSS had 30 more sakhas in place. It also organised some 100 'exposure' camps to educate people about the Sangh's activities. But what exactly is the new constituency - apart from the revival of Hindu votes - that the RSS is banking on in Bengal?

State RSS leaders are confident that the backward castes, who feel let down by successive governments - even the Left Front - are flocking to the Parivar. The RSS had in recent times panned the Mamata Banerjee government and its Left predecessor for neglecting the backward communities. It had also attributed the plight of Hindu OBCs to the inclusion of 90% Muslims in West Bengal within the OBC category. "We are concentrating on the living conditions of the SC, ST and OBC people in Bengal. These communities have been most deprived, especially during the last days of the Left Front government and the first three years of the Mamata Banerjee government," Basu said. Consequently, the RSS has expanded in the SC, ST and OBC-dominated areas of South and North 24-Parganas, Nadia, Murshidabad, especially the southern part of the district - Bankura, West and East Midnapore and Howrah (the rural swathes)..."