The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), a trade union affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has opened its first public office in Kashmir at Barsoo village in Awantipora, south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
The move is being seen as a significant step towards expanding the organisation’s activities in the Kashmir Valley. Sameer Kuche, the RSS’s Kashmir in-charge, said the opening of the office reflected the changing face of Kashmir. He said children and young people now wanted to hold books instead of stones.
The single-storey office is located in the remote village of Barsoo and has CCTV cameras, steel railings and police security. It is the first RSS-affiliated office to openly acknowledge its presence in Kashmir.
BMS is one of India’s largest central trade union organisations and is the labour wing of the RSS. Its Pulwama office in Barsoo is near Lethpora village, the site of the 2019 Pulwama attack. Kuchay said the location was chosen because it is central for labourers working in far-flung areas of South Kashmir, while Srinagar was too far for them.
The BMS office in South Kashmir was inaugurated on 16 October. Kuchay reportedly said it had been under construction for a year. Before this, BMS had a rented office in Srinagar’s Shivpora. Kuchay claimed that about 20 small organisations are affiliated with BMS in the Kashmir division and that it has 20,000 registered members. He said the organisation’s only goal is to fight for the rights of labourers, workers and employees.
Kuchay said he has been associated with the RSS since 2015. He claimed that after Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power, he learned that the RSS had been falsely accused of being anti-Muslim. He said he learned that the RSS is pro-India, pro-development and pro-progress and works for society rather than any particular community or religion, which is why he joined it.
Kuchay joined BMS in 2020 and has been working actively on the ground to expand its network.
