RSS focused its Vijayadashmi celebrations in Delhi on "social harmony," in an outreach to Dalits.
Ahead of a series of crucial state elections next year, the BJP's ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS focused its Vijayadashmi celebrations in capital Delhi this week on "social harmony," in a big outreach to Dalits.
The chief guest at the function was a religious leader of the Valmikis, a Dalit community, and Delhi RSS chief said, "As a Hindu society, we stand together as sons of Mother India. We have no caste."
He was addressing hundreds of young pracharaks or workers dressed for the first time in their new uniforms with brown full pants instead of the knee-length khakhi shorts that members of the organisation wore for nine decades.
"Ram is as important to us as Valmiki," Alok Kumar said, referring to the sage revered by Dalits and who is credited with authoring the epic Ramayan, which describes the victory of Lord Ram over demon king Ravan, celebrated on Vijayadashami or Dussehra.
Political rivals have called it an attempt at damage control after the BJP has faced huge protests over the brutal beating of four Dalit men by cow vigilantes in Una in Gujarat, where the party rules and will face elections in late 2017.
Before that, the BJP will fight close elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, both states with a significant Dalit vote.
The RSS has stressed that Hindus must not allow parties to divide them along caste lines for political benefit. At the function, it distributed "Ram Khichadi" as prasad, which it claimed was made with ingredients collected from 5000 families from different castes in the capital.
"All symbolism," said Sudheendra Bhadoria of Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), adding, "After the Rohith Vemula incident, after the Una incident the entire nation saw; everybody knows the attitude of the BJP. They are not going to be cheated and misled by some people organising a cultural event."
Opposition parties like the Congress and BSP have accused the BJP of being anti-Dalit, blaming it for the Una incident and also the suicide in Hyderabad early this year of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula.
The RSS, however, says its celebration of Ram Lila, which ends with Dussehra or Ram's victory over demon king Ravana, has always featured Dalits and that Dalit leaders have often been invited for related functions.