RSS to review plans for centennial celebrations in annual meet

A day before it is set to begin, the annual meet of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh -- the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha -- will focus on its centennial celebrations to be held in 2025, the outfit’s contact expansion programme, and an action plan for 2023-24, media in-charge Sunil Ambekar said. From the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Sangh’s political arm, president JP Nadda and general secretary organisation BL Santosh are set to attend

Apart from Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat and general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale, over 1400 people are expected to take part in the meet at Haryana’s Samalkha, which starts on March 12 and ends on March 14.

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“The Sangh will complete 100 years in 2025, and to celebrate that, we had launched a plan spanning 2021-22 and 2022-23. At the Pratinidhi Sabha, we will review the earlier plans and flesh out plans for the next year. A lot of karyakartas have fanned out across the country to ensure more and more people join the Sangh, we will discuss their experiences in detail,” said Ambekar.

A policy to control population is expected to be on the cards, apart from a roadmap for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, said some RSS leaders who did not wish to be named. Ambekar said that the Akhil Bharatiya Karyakarini Mandal will hold a deliberation on Friday, a day before the meet begins. He added that several proposals are expected from attendees.

Ambekar said that 2023 being Arya Samaj founder Dayanand Saraswati’s 200th birth year and the 2550th death anniversary of Jain spiritual guru Mahavir Jain, the Sangh will also issue special statements. A deliberation on the activities that should be taken up for the 75th year of Indian independence will also take place, he said.

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One of the proposals with several backers, said Ambekar, is to declare the shakha, which is the basic unit of the Sangh, as a center of social transformation. “The karyakartas responsible for any shakha carry out a study of the region, and based on these surveys, the Sangh has carried out several functions to ensure they become self-reliant and harmonious,” he said.

Representatives of over 34 affiliates of the Sangh will be present at the meet. From the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Vinayak Rao and Alok Kumar will be present at the three-day meet, while the RSS’s trade union arm, the Mazdoor Sangh, will send Surendra Bojji and Hiranmay Pandya. Representatives from its educational wing, Vidya Bharti, will be Ramakrishna Rao and Govind Mohan.