The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has claimed that the number of its branches in West Bengal has increased by 25% in the past year, despite a decline in the BJP’s vote share in the state after the 2021 Assembly elections.
There has been a significant increase in RSS branches in East and West Midnapore, the northern Hooghly region, and rural Howrah in the past one year, the New Indian Express reported.
The four districts where the shakhas have increased are well-known bastions of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC). Sangh’s growth in the region is likely to have an effect on the elections for rural civic bodies set for the next year, the report claimed.
The BJP received more than 40% of the state’s votes in the general election of 2019. In the civic elections held in February of this year, it fell to 12%.
TMC General Secretary Kunal Ghosh, however, traded brickbats at the state CPI(M), stating that it is the votes from the Left, which is flowing to the BJP. “Let the CPI(M) take it into account, if the Sangh is gaining stronger,” he said.
