RSS to hold over 1 lakh meetings to  galvanise Hindus in centenary year

The ruling BJP's mother organisation Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh on Monday finalised plans to galvanise Hindus across the country with focused brainstorming sessions and active door-to-door outreach through the centenary year.

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Sangh volunteers and cadres will reach out to as many as 12 crore families nationally with the message of the work RSS is doing besides conducting what it is calling "Hindu Samaj Sammelan (Hindu society seminars) at over one lakh locations in the country.

RSS communications chief Sunil Ambekar today said the Hindu society seminars would be held at 58,964 urban centres of the Sangh called mandals and 44,055 rural centres called 'bastis', that is 1,03, 09 locations.

"Griha sampark (house-to-house outreach) will also be held with an aim to reach maximum possible families, people and villages," Ambekar said today at the end of a three-day RSS meeting to finalise plans for centenary year celebrations. The Sangh will enter the 100th year of establishment on October 2 this year.

'Peace returning to Manipur'

RSS communications chief Sunil Ambekar on Monday said Manipur strife was discussed at the three-day meeting and it was concluded that peace was returning to the state and ongoing dialogue between warring Meiteis and Kukis was yielding results.

The mass outreach plan announced today was first approved in late March at the gathering of RSS All India Pratinidhi Sabha, the highest decision-making body of the Sangh.

At that meeting, RSS second-in-command Dattatreya Hosabale had framed the outreach campaign in context of the need for "one nation-one culture approach".

"The basis for the outreach plan in the centenary year is changing the narrative and establishing the truth. Vimarsh ko badalnaa hai (We have to change the narrative). The Hindu society has awakened over the years. Today calling oneself Hindu is a matter of pride but we have to ensure some internal corrections, such as fighting caste and working for women's empowerment," he had said.

RSS sources today said Hindu unity gatherings at over one lakh places seek to galvanise the Hindu society around issues of shared culture and heritage, social harmony, festivals, and other common concerns.

"As a society we should be strong, confident and harmonious, free of discrimination. Every family should contribute something for the nation. The idea is to galvanise the strength of the Hindu society so that it feels confident, united and harmonious," Dattatreya Hosabale has said.

Sources said though purely social in nature, the mass outreach of RSS was expected to consolidate the Hindu consciousness. "Awakening and consolidation of the Hindu consciousness will inevitably yield political results as is expected in any society," said an RSS insider.

The mass outreach to be powered by over one crore strong Sangh cadre will further involve goodwill seminars where caste, community and intellectual leaders of communities would be invitees.