Senior RSS leaders, including Suresh Soni and Krishan Gopal, have been meeting members of Sangh Parivar affiliates and senior ministers in the Narendra Modi government to make sure that there are no conflicting voices on issues including FDI, intellectual property rights (IPR) in pharma sector and regularisation of contract workers among others.
The Modi government had to put on hold field trials of genetically-modified crops after stiff opposition from Swadeshi Jagran Manch and Bharatiya Kisan Sangh earlier in 2014.
Sources disclosed Sangh-affiliated groups voiced reservations over certain policies of the Modi government, including FDI, besides seeking regularisation of contract workers during their meetings with senior RSS leaders held at the Madhya Pradesh Bhawan.
Issues pertaining to the problems of sugarcane farmers and their pending dues with sugar mills, concerns over the government allowing field trials on GM crops like Bt Brinjal and giving employee-status to anganwadi workers were also raised during the discussions.
These series of meetings, which started on Monday, are aimed at seeking views of such organisations which are working extensively in various fields and improve coordination between the party and its affiliates.
The meeting was also attended by BJP general secretaries Ram Lal and Ram Madhav, who are RSS representatives in the BJP, along with some senior functionaries of Sangh-affiliates. Union ministers including Prakash Javadekar (information and broadcasting), Radha Mohan Singh (agriculture), Narinder Singh Tomar (labour) and Piyush Goyal (power) also attended these meetings.
The Sangh Parivar-affiliated organisations working in the field raised concerns over various issues and asked the government not to rush into any action that could harm the interests of the common man, sources said. While Swadeshi Jagran Manch raised concern over the government’s growing dependence on FDI in various sectors, it also voiced reservation to allowing field trials on GM crops like Bt Brinjal and raised concern over IPR in pharma-sector. Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh raised concerns of the labour class demanding that the government regularise the services of contract workers and anganwadi workers.