By neeraj kumar
Hyderabad: No buzz, no hype, no hungama and no high decibel campaign. The focus on door-to-door outreach and small group meetings across Maharashtra by thousands of swayamsevaks months before the November 20 elections, with extensive campaigns highlighting concerns about Hindutva and national unity, seem to have paid-off for the BJP in the neighbouring state.
The swayamsevaks effectively addressed the caste division strategies by the Opposition and explained how that would work against Hindu unity. They enabled mobilisation of rural voters to consolidate support in regions where the BJP has traditionally faced challenges.
More importantly, the collaboration between swayamsevaks and BJP workers and leaders, led by Atul Limaye, 54, joint general secretary, who was deputed months ahead by the RSS top brass enabled the stupendous electoral success of BJP.
Limaye’s strategy played an instrumental role in gaining Marathas’ support for the party.
A senior functionary of RSS said that the small `tolis’ (groups) of swayamsevaks held meetings with two to three families in mohallas. A respectable local person was included in these meetings to shape opinion.
‘Sajag Raho’, a voter awareness campaign initiated by Limaye, saw volunteers visit each house.
The silent voter mobilisation efforts paid off with the overall turnout rising by 4.95 percentage points, compared to 66.05 per cent in 2019.
This story was originally published in deccanchronicle.com. Read the full story here.
