Top RSS, BJP brass to talk religion, nation, culture at 3-day meet from Thursday

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, September 13

Issues confronting the nation, religion and culture will be in focus at the three-day coordination meeting of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh and its sister organisations, including the ruling BJP, commencing in Pune on Thursday.

The meeting, an annual affair, will conclude on September 16 and will deliberate on the “current national and political developments and key issues being handled by various RSS-inspired organisations”.

Speaking about the meeting, where the BJP will be represented by party president JP Nadda and general secretary organisation BL Santosh, RSS national communications chief Sunil Ambekar said all matters concerning “our country, our religion, our culture will be discussed and ideological stance to be taken in the future will be deliberated on and firmed up”.

“The RSS has always said that such issues (the ones that exercise the minds of the people) should be discussed and thrashed out,” Ambekar said amid a raging row over the remarks of the DMK, the opposition INDIA bloc constituent, on the Sanatan dharma.

The meeting is also expected to discuss the planned name change of the country from India to Bharat and laud the move by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to call himself the leader representing Bharat at the recent G20 Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi.

The RSS has always backed the name Bharat for India. Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat, who will chair the meeting, had a few days ago said that the time had come to call the country Bharat and stress its civilisational continuity.

The meeting will also take a view on economic policies with Ambekar noting that self-reliance remains the Sangh’s priority.

“The VHP engaged in the task of building the Ram Temple will also share their experiences, as will all other organisations working in their respective sectors such as the education and environment sectors,” Ambekar added.

The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, Swadeshi Jagran Manch and Shiksha Utthan Nyas are some of the 36 organisations to be represented at the meeting which will finalise a broad ideological direction to be followed by the RSS and its affiliates in the run-up to state elections (MP, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram) and later the 2024 general election.

Ambekar said the deliberations would take the shape of formal resolutions only at the All India Karyakari meeting of the RSS in November.

The discussions are closed-door, he said.