Weeks after the BJP’s big victory in West Bengal, organisations linked to the RSS have started expanding quickly across colleges, universities and educational institutions that were long dominated by the Left and the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC.From Kolkata campuses to colleges in north Bengal, RSS-backed student and teachers’ groups say they are receiving a sharp rise in membership requests and enquiries from students, professors and non-teaching staff. The development comes after the May 4 election results changed the political mood in the state and boosted confidence among BJP and RSS affiliates.The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the RSS-linked student organisation, claimed it had a presence in only 96 colleges before the election results. According to its leaders, that number has now crossed 400 within a few weeks, even before the formal membership drive begins on June 9.“Many students from various colleges and universities are in touch with us and want to join ABVP and open ABVP units in their colleges or universities. But unlike TMCP, joining ABVP requires following proper procedure and scrutiny before induction,” ABVP South Bengal secretary Nilkantha Bhattacharya told news agency PTI.ABVP leaders also claimed that several students approaching the organisation were earlier linked to the Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad (TMCP), the student wing of the TMC, and in some cases to the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), linked to the CPI(M).RSS leaders said the BJP’s victory has broken a “psychological resistance barrier” inside Bengal’s academic institutions, where Left influence remained strong for decades and where the TMC later built its own campus networks through student unions and local influence.Along with ABVP, other RSS-linked organisations such as Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal and Akhil Bharatiya Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh (ABRSM) also claimed they are witnessing rapid growth in West Bengal after the BJP’s victory.ABRSM state general secretary Bapi Pramanik said the organisation’s membership in Bengal, once below 10,000, could now cross one lakh as more teachers and educational staff seek association with groups viewed as being close to the new political power structure.“Our network already has a presence across most blocks and educational circles in the state, but the post-election momentum has dramatically accelerated recruitment in districts where Sangh affiliates earlier struggled to gain institutional legitimacy,” he said.The Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal also argued that West Bengal required stronger mobilisation because the state had resisted implementing the National Education Policy for years, despite several recommendations emerging from consultations involving its thinkers.
