With greater than a 12 months to go for the 2026 Meeting elections, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological guardian of the Bharatiya Janata Get together (BJP), has already intensified its efforts in West Bengal. This comes quickly after securing consecutive electoral victories in Haryana, Maharashtra and Delhi for the saffron unit.
The Sangh goals to double its presence within the state earlier than the 2026 elections. The RSS has reportedly grown its branches from round 530 to over 2,500 previously 14 years, sources mentioned. This growth is just not merely numerical; it’s about embedding the RSS’s ethos in Bengal’s socio-political material.
Sources said that one of many RSS’s main methods in West Bengal is increasing its grassroots community. The group has traditionally had a restricted presence within the state in comparison with northern and western India, the place its Hindutva ideology has deeper roots. Nevertheless, latest years have seen a big push to extend the variety of shakhas throughout Bengal.
With the RSS enjoying a pivotal function in shaping the BJP’s electoral methods, the group has additionally ramped up its organizational and ideological outreach to the voters.
A stronghold of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) below Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal represents a essential battleground for the BJP, which seeks to develop its affect in jap India.
The RSS’s relationship with the BJP in West Bengal has confronted challenges, notably a scarcity of coordination that contributed to the BJP’s decreased tally of 12 Lok Sabha seats in 2024, down from 18 in 2019.
To deal with this, the RSS has initiated high-level “samanvay baithaks” (coordination conferences) with BJP leaders and its affiliate organizations. A two-day assembly in Howrah, concluded on March 2, 2025, and targeted on discovering methods to counter TMC’s dominance.
Sources point out the RSS urged its associates to lean on its fundamental Hindutva ideology and “safeguard the Hindu homeland,” signalling a proactive function in shaping the BJP’s marketing campaign narrative.
Central to the RSS’s efforts is selling a Hindutva-centric narrative tailor-made to Bengal’s demographics and up to date occasions. The group has seized on incidents just like the alleged atrocities in opposition to Hindus in Bangladesh to argue that Bengal’s Hindu id is below risk.
Mohan Bhagwat’s 11-day go to to Bengal in February 2025 emphasised uniting Hindu society. By framing the BJP because the protector of Hindu pursuits in opposition to TMC’s perceived “appeasement” insurance policies, the RSS seeks to shift voter sentiment.
This coordination is essential because the BJP prepares for 2026. The RSS goals to bridge inner factionalism throughout the Bengal BJP—between unique leaders and newer Trinamool turncoats like Suvendu Adhikari—guaranteeing a cohesive technique. The RSS can be laying the groundwork for electoral success by influencing BJP’s management and technique.
By doubling its presence, aligning with the BJP, and pushing a Hindutva narrative, the RSS goals to erode TMC’s stronghold by 2026. Whether or not this interprets into electoral success is dependent upon how Bengal’s voters—steeped in a legacy of secularism and regional pleasure—reply to this saffron surge.
