The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), a labour organisation affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has opened its first divisional office in the Kashmir Valley in Barsoo village of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
The office, inaugurated earlier this week, marks a more visible organisational presence for the BMS in the Valley, The Times of India reported.
The organisation had previously operated from a rented premises in Shivpora, Srinagar.
Sameer Kuchay, the BMS in-charge for Kashmir, said the office was established in Pulwama because of its central location and the concentration of affiliated trade unions in south Kashmir.
Kuchay said the organisation’s objective was to protect the rights of workers and ensure that employees were treated with dignity. He claimed that 20 trade unions representing around 30,000 employees in Kashmir were affiliated with the BMS.
He also maintained that the organisation operated independently of political parties and was focused on labour welfare.
The office is located in Barsoo, in the Awantipora area of Pulwama district, around five kilometres from the Lethpora highway, where a suicide bombing targeting a Central Reserve Police Force convoy killed 40 personnel in February 2019.
The BMS has been active in Kashmir since 2020, according to its Kashmir leadership. Its office opening comes amid efforts by the RSS and organisations affiliated with it to expand their activities in the Valley.
Kuchay said the organisation had previously faced difficulties in carrying out its activities openly, but claimed that the situation had changed in recent years.
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