RSS Dalit ideologue quits, joins Mevani

Mukesh Ranjan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 21

In a move which does not augur well for the BJP in Gujarat, the saffron party’s one of the tallest Dalit ideologue, Mulchand Rana, has quit the Sangh Parivar and joined hands with Jignesh Mevani, a new rising young Dalit leader from the state.

The 64-year-old leader has called it quits after serving the RSS-BJP for 48 years. A retired bank officer, Rana has sent letters to both the BJP and the RSS, asking them to relieve him from all his duties. He had been vice-president of Samajik Samrasata Manch of Gujarat, an RSS wing of Social Unity, since 2006. 

According to sources in the BJP headquarters here, Rana was not happy with the RSS launching a parallel organisation for assimilating Dalits to the Hindutva fold under the banner “Bhartiya Buddha Sangh”, which initially spread its activities in Gujarat and later expanded to Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The RSS chose a young Dalit face from Uttar Pradesh, Bhantey Sanghapriye Rahul to lead the Buddha Sangh. Rahul is considered to be a close associate of BJP’s Dalit MP Udit Raj.

Sources close to the top leadership in the party here said, sensing that he was sidelined, as organisationally RSS was giving support to new outfit, Rana left and joined hands with Mevani. However, Rana reportedly claimed that the party leadership was not heeding to his caution that the rift between Dalits and other Hindu communities in Gujarat was widening. He is learnt to have also accused that the RSS and BJP’s “Samrasata” is nothing but “Karmakand” (a ritual) as they talk about it but don’t believe in it, and thus it has led to an increase in cases of atrocities on Dalits.

Rana joined the RSS in 1970, but later became a bank officer. In 1998, he resigned from the services and joined the Gujarat unit of the BJP and served as secretary, SC Morcha. In 2000, he was appointed as a member of the Gujarat Public Service Commission where he worked for six years and then got actively associated with RSS’ Samajik Samrasata Manch. 

Cautions against widening rift

• After serving the Sangh Parivar for 48 years, 64-year-old Mulchand Rana has sent letters to both the BJP and the RSS, asking them to relieve him of all his duties
• Rana has reportedly claimed that the party leadership is not heeding to his caution that the rift between Dalits and other Hindu communities in Gujarat is widening