Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat is said to feature in a three-day lecture series on the theme ‘Future of Bharat: An RSS perspective’. It is reported that the event which is to be held at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi from 17 September to 19 September would have the RSS chief address and interact with a select group of audience, the list of which is being prepared.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury could be invited to attend the event as the RSS wants to reach out to people across the ideological spectrum. The idea behind organizing this lecture series is to enable the RSS chief to present the views of the organization on contemporary issues of national importance.
The move to possibly invite ideological opponents like the Congress President and the CPI (M) general secretary comes in the backdrop of the invite earlier extended to former President and veteran Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee to attend another RSS event in Nagpur.
It would be interesting to see if the invite fructifies especially in view of the attacks mounted by the Congress President against the RSS wherein the organization was also compared to the Muslim Brotherhood. The Congress President had also alleged that the RSS was trying to “capture” institutions and “change” the nature of India.