'Fifty Per Cent Of Society Cannot Be Kept Outside': Mohan Bhagwat Bats For Greater Representation Of Women In RSS

New Delhi: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat has emphasized the importance of women's participation in the organisation's decision-making processes, stating that "fifty per cent of society cannot be kept outside."

Addressing a gathering during the launch of a book Tan Samarpit, Man Samarpit, Mohan Bhagwat said, "Wherever there are swayamsevaks, women are alongside. For women, the Rashtra Sevika Samiti, an all-women organisation started in 1936, runs parallel. In many regions, women are part of decision-making, invited into core meetings, and their proposals are included. Fifty per cent of society cannot be kept outside."

He said the Rashtra Sevika Samiti has 43 pracharikas (full-time workers) and its work is expanding rapidly. "We interact with each other," he said.

Furthermore, Bhagwat stated, women representatives from the Samiti and various other affiliated organisations are invited to participate in the annual meeting of the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha, the RSS' core body involved in decision-making.

"They participate in all the deliberations held at the meeting… We take decisions together," he said.

"Women and men work together in what we do in the interest of society," he added.

Bhagwat was responding to a question about why the RSS does not allow women to join the organisation.

He said that women have already begun work in the "implementation groups" of various departments of the RSS.

"This will gradually increase," he said.

Bhagwat said that when the Rashtra Sevika Samiti was founded, it was decided that there would not be any "encroachment upon each other's fields" and both organisations (RSS and the Samiti) would always help each other.

"And this is happening," he said.

Tan Samarpit, Man Samarpit is a biography of Swayamsevak Ramesh Prakash published by Suruchi Prakashan. Two perspectives came together: one from the Sangh's leadership and one from a journalist's world.

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