Originally posted by: NathuPaapi
Yes... A worthy opposition is indeed very much needed. If at this point I were asked to choose between RSS and Bajrang dal I would go for the latter as RSS is becoming increasingly 'secular'.. While Bajrang dal is fighting for the Hindu causes (like against love jihad etc) at the grassroot levels. I often read that If police is not registering FIR or not taking action then Bajrang dal members help the victim family get justice by putting pressure on police. RSS is not to be seen in such cases.
Similarly if this new party starts acting at the grassroot level for Hindu and Nationalistic causes then ofcourse people will notice and gradually it will become big enough to challenge BJP. But it will take time...
Bajrang Dal, VHP, BJP are all part of the RSS family. RSS now has the Muslim Rashtriya Manch, and Mohan Bhagwat has called on members to freely have beef in order to show solidarity w/ Muslims. There have been marriages of Hindu girls w/ muslim men conducted in temples in Himachal under RSS auspices, and you have the prime minister's statements calling gaurakshaks gundas. There are many more instances of them going totally rogue
I agree that parties start in one state. In this case, I've noticed that ESB has been active mainly in Jammu (not J&K, mind you: Ankur Sharma has openly stated that his party will not participate in Kashmir, where they'd have to compromise w/ national integrity in order to win muslim votes), and are still building up in other states. However, they need to do that in parallel. In Jammu, they were earlier known as Ikkjutt Jammu, but they decided to go national last year, since no other party is willing to give them a separate Jammu state (like Ladakh). Hopefully, the party can make inroads in states where voters are disgusted w/ the BJP's policies of triptikaran and santushtikaran. They've been focusing on their Sapta-sankalps (7 sankalps) (which has undergone a few revisions since they started), and from what I have seen, those are pretty solid ideals. They've also put together committees for how to deal w/ each aspect of governance
Nobody expects them to win this election. But I'd like to see them get a handful of seats, so that there are people who can raise Hindu issues in parliament regardless of whether the BJP wants them or not. Over time, I'd like to see them replace the BJP, and by then, I'd also like to see more Hindu parties emerge, maybe even a resurrection of the Hindu Mahasabha (which incidentally still exists, although one could be forgiven for not knowing it)
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