RSS Likely to Invite Rahul Gandhi, Other Oppn Leaders For Event in September: Reports

Apart from Gandhi, the RSS is also likely to invite Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury for the event which will be held between September 17 and 19.

New Delhi: Despite Rahul Gandhi’s punitive attack on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in London where he likened the right-wing outfit to the radical Islamist outfit Muslim Brotherhood, the RSS is likely to invite the Congress president and other opposition leaders for an event in September, according to media reports.

Apart from Gandhi, the RSS is also likely to invite Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury for the event which will be held between September 17 and 19.

Sources say the event will focus on “the India of the future”. According to the organisation’s Twitter handle, the event will be a three-day lecture series titled “Future of Bharat: An RSS’ perspective” by Sarsanghchalak, Dr Mohan Bhagwat.

Giving details of the September event, RSS prachar pramukh Arun Kumar said the Sangh was for the first time organising a three-day lecture series of its chief Mohan Bhagwat on the theme, ‘Future of Bharat: An RSS perspective’.

“Bhagwatji will address and interact with select audience comprising prominent citizens on ‘Future of Bharat: An RSS perspective’ in a three-day lecture series,” Kumar told reporters.

The event will be held at Vighan Bhavan from September 17 to September 19.

Kumar said people across the country wanted to know and associate with the RSS.

“This lecture series has been organised in this context… Sarsanghchalak (RSS chief) Mohan Bhagwatji will present the Sangh views on various contemporary issues of national importance,” Kumar said.

Replying to a question on whether Gandhi will also be invited, Kumar said the list had not been finalised.

“It is our prerogative to choose who to invite or not. Leave this to us… But people from all walks of life, including from different political outfits, ideologies and religions, will be invited,” he said.

On Friday, Gandhi had alleged that the ideological mentor of the BJP was trying to “change” the nature of India and “capture” its institutions.

The Muslim Brotherhood is the oldest political Islamist group in the Arab world. It is banned and declared as a terrorist organisation by the governments of several countries. “The RSS is trying to change the nature of India. Other parties haven’t tried to capture India’s institutions.

“The RSS’ idea is similar to the idea of Muslim Brotherhood in the Arab world,” Gandhi said at the International Institute of Strategic Studies, a London-based think-tank.

His remarks drew a stinging condemnation from the BJP which accused him of acting as a “contract killer” of the idea called India and demanded an apology.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said the likes of President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who died last week, have a RSS background and Gandhi’s comparison of the organisation with an Islamist outfit is “unforgivable”.

Later, the Congress came into its party chief’s defence saying the comments had been distorted and should not be viewed in isolation. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said what the party chief had said is true about jobs and Doka La, but his remarks on Islamic State have been “distorted”.

On Monday, the RSS also hit out at the Congress chief saying that cannot understand the saffron outfit as he does not know India.

“The entire world today is facing the threat of Islamic fundamentalism. He is unaware… He does not understand the gravity of the situation that’s why he is making such statements,” RSS prachar pramukh (publicity in-charge) Arun Kumar said while responding to a question on Gandhi’s remarks about the RSS.

Referring to the Congress president’s old statement that he is trying to understand India, the Sangh leader said, “One who doesn’t understand India cannot understand the Sangh.”

He is ignorant about India and its cultural ethos of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, which means the world is one family, Kumar claimed.

In June this year, former President Pranab Mukherjee had attended an RSS event and addressed it. His decision to accept RSS’ invitation had fuelled a lot of controversy. While many Congress leaders expressed shock and reservations, and urged him to reconsider his decision, RSS leaders welcomed it.