RSS Reaches Out To Around 60 Countries For Its Lecture Series, Leaves Out Pakistan

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is organising a three day lecture series in Delhi next week, which will be addressed by its chief Mohan Bhagwat. Invitations for the event have been sent to diplomatic missions of nearly 60 countries, but Pakistan has been left out, The Indian Express reported.

“Invitations will be sent to embassies of most Asian countries excluding Pakistan. Pakistan will not be invited because that country supports terror, kills Indian soldiers at borders and its relations with India are strained,” said an RSS functionary. The report mentions that China has been invited, as, according to the RSS functionary, China has “cultural similarities with India”.

RSS is sending invitation to "all national political parties and regional parties with a strong base in the states which aggressively target the RSS on different issues" for the event beginning on September 17. IE mentions that sources have said that  "invitations will be sent to those parties that have a strong base in different states and enjoy public support and often raise questions related to RSS, like TMC, Samajwadi Party, DMK and others.”

IE reports: "Bhagwat will address and interact with a select audience comprising prominent citizens on the “Future of Bharat: An RSS perspective." Bhagwat is expected to speak about the various aspects of the organisation and address contemporary issues of national importance. These are likely to be reservation, Hindutva and communalism.

Last month, media reports suggested that the RSS is likely to invite one of its sharpest critics Rahul Gandhi. While at the Strategic Studies Institute in London, Gandhi had said: "We are fighting an organisation called the RSS, which is trying to change the nature of India. There is no other organisation in India that wants to capture India's institutions. RSS' idea is similar to the idea of Muslim Brotherhood in the Arab world."

The lecture series a first such event that involves direct interaction and dialogue aimed at clarifying the different stands, pitch and directions the RSS chooses to take. The audience is wide and the motive -- of reaching out to minds outside India and at the home turf -- pretty clear. A leader from the organisation said, “There are issues on which questions are raised about the RSS and there are issues through which attempts are made to understand RSS. All this will be clarified in the three-day event."