New horizons: Women set to play more decisive roles at RSS affiliates

Sangh Parivar outfits are increasingly seeking to raise women's representation in their decision-making bodies

Last week, the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), among India’s largest farm unions, held its first women farmers’ convention since its inception 47 years back. In August, days after it marked its 62nd year, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) appointed a woman to lead one of its state units in the country. The Rashtriya Sewa Bharati, a welfare-oriented organisation, now has more women than ever in leadership positions.

 

The BKS, VHP, and Sewa Bharati are among the 36 organisations that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) calls its affiliates. Several of these organisations have their own affiliates as well, including women-only wings. The recent developments in the BKS, VHP and Sewa Bharati result from an internal debate within the Sangh Parivar over the lack of women’s representation in the male-dominated decision-making hierarchies of its affiliated organisations, not merely in its women-only wings.

 

As the RSS itself states, the shakha is “undoubtedly the most visible symbol of the RSS,” where a “saffron flag flutters in the midst of an open playground, and youths and boys of all ages engage in varieties of indigenous games.” 

 

Women are not part of the shakhas. The RSS set up the Rashtra Sevika Samiti, “an exclusively women's organisation” in 1936. It claims to have 5,000 daily shakhas, and has been crucial in spreading the RSS network and message in the northeastern states like Assam, and particularly among the region’s matriarchal communities.

 

However, external criticism combined with internal debate regarding the lack of women in the decision-making leadership of the RSS has persuaded the Sangh Parivar to address the issue in its centenary year. The RSS had completed 100 years in 2025. A major factor driving this conversation is the emergence of women as a strong support base for the RSS’s political arm, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

 

The BJP leadership, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has championed legislation in recent years to reserve one-third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and the state legislative Assemblies. 

 

The RSS top leadership now speaks of women’s participation in terms of their presence in the higher-decision making bodies of the RSS’s affiliated outfits. “This is not token inclusion. It is transformation through trust,” RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had said last year.

 

The churn is taking place in other affiliated organisations too, like the Laghu Udyog Bharti (LUB). The first challenge organisations like these face is increasing the number of women members. The LUB represents the interests and voices the concerns of the country’s micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). 

 

According to a functionary, the organisation has focused on enrolling more women, and now almost 6,000 of its 70,000 members are women entrepreneurs. The LUB also routinely organises ‘Swayamsiddha Exhibitions’, aimed at encouraging women entrepreneurs. 

 

In August, the VHP, which spearheaded the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, appointed Upasana Arora as the president of its Delhi unit — a first for the organisation since its inception in 1964, according to a senior RSS leader. Arora is the managing director of the Ghaziabad-based Yashoda Super Speciality Hospitals. Until now, women could head only the VHP’s women’s wing, the Durga Vahini, which was founded in 1994.

 

Earlier this year, the trade union arm of the RSS, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), also organised a national colloquium on “increasing women’s participation in the trade union movement”. The BMS is India’s largest trade union, and has sought to increase women's representation in its central committees and international delegations.

 

Last week, the BKS held its first All India Women Farmers’ Workers Conclave, which it said was attended by over 5,000 members and involved discussions over increasing the role of women farmers in agriculture. The BKS claims to have around 4.2 million members across India — of these, around 700,000 are women members.

 

Addressing the event, RSS All-India contact chief Ramlal urged other organisations to learn from such women-centric initiatives. 

 

In a statement issued on Friday, Ramlal added that women farmers must be placed at the forefront of decision-making over sustainable agriculture and the rural economy. “They must be given legal and social recognition not merely as a workforce labouring on the land, but as farmers and agricultural entrepreneurs capable of making independent decisions with self-reliance and discernment,” he said.

 

Data shows the share of women in India’s total workforce engaged in agriculture has risen from 30 per cent in 2017-18 to almost 49 per cent in 2023-24, while that of males has declined from 40 per cent to 36 per cent during the same period. “For the BKS, we can say with confidence that the role of women in our state executive committees and national working committees in recent years has grown with many of them now holding prominent posts,” a senior functionary of the organisation said.

 

Within the broader agriculture framework, animal husbandry, dairying, livestock and fisheries is a sub-sector where almost 100 per cent of the workforce comprises women. Some sources said that one way to increase the role of women farmers could be to make them a part of the farmer’s role position in Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices (CACP), the government’s main rate setting panel. The United Nations has declared 2026 as the ‘International Year of Women Farmers’.

 

In March 2026, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences (TAAS), Consultative Groupon International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), and Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights Authority (PPV&FRA), in collaboration with other organisations organised a global conference on women in agri-food systems in PUSA, which was also first such women exclusive conference after a considerable gap. 

New horizons

 

• Bharatiya Kisan Sangh held its first ever women farmers’ convention recently
• Senior functionary called for “legal and social recognition” for women farmers
• In August, VHP appointed Upasana Arora as the president of its Delhi unit, the first time it has elevated a woman to the position
• Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh organised a national colloquium on “increasing women’s participation in trade union movement” this year