Hindu Sangama fails to draw crowds, a flop show in South India’s RSS heartland Puttur

Bengaluru

Hindu Sangama has failed to galvanise crowds in southern India’s RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) heartland, Puttur, rendering the event a major flop show. This has been attributed to the alleged dictatorial-style leadership of local BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and RSS leaders.

Hindu Sangama is being organised in many parts of the state to mobilise Hindutva votes for the BJP in the upcoming local body elections. In Puttur taluk of Dakshina Kannada district, the Sangh Parivar was hoping to draw large crowds to showcase its strength, especially to sideline its own party leader, Arun Kumar Puttila. In the taluk, events were organised at at least 10 different places.

The blrpost.com visited at least two such events to conduct a reality check on the ground. The response at both events was average. For the march preceding the events, the BJP-RSS engaged schoolchildren and people associated with bhajan groups. What is shocking is that a majority of grassroots workers abstained from the events.

A source in the BJP said the alleged dictatorial behaviour of MLC Kishor Kumar, Raveendra and others is a key reason for the poor response. These leaders have failed to take party workers into confidence and are instead engaged in internal bickering. No invitation was extended to Puttila, a popular BJP and Hindutva leader in the taluk. Puttila is known as a crowd-puller, having toiled for the party for several years.

Sources said party leaders are falsely projecting the event as a success, but in reality, it has been a major failure. Puttur is known as the RSS heartland of southern India due to its Hindutva activities. However, the taluk is slowly losing this tag, a trend that began with the 2023 Assembly polls when Puttila contested as an independent and Congress candidate Ashok Rai won by a slender margin.

The RSS is now hoping to win back the masses without Puttila. Sources say that in the taluk, any RSS or BJP event without Puttila is bound to fail, as his Puttila Parivara (a Hindutva faction) is silently growing like a party.