The gathering will be presided over by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, while Hindu spiritual guru Avadheshanand Giri will chair the meet
In a communally volatile western UP, singed recently by Hindu-Muslim riots in Kasganj, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) will be holding its biggest-ever congregation of volunteers in Meerut on February 25.
The gathering will be presided over by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, while Hindu spiritual guru Avadheshanand Giri will chair the meet. In a show of strength and reach among masses, over three lakh swayamsevaks will be showcasing martial arts in complete ‘ganavesh’ or the Sangh’s regulation uniform in a ground sprawled over 650 acres.
Another measurement that provides a sense of scale of the event is that over 600 acres of land has been earmarked for parking of vehicles as over 5,000 buses are expected.
Incidentally, this congregation kills a lot many birds for the RSS with the proverbial one stone. Over two lakh participating volunteers who have already registered are below 40 years of age, thus lending this gathering a rather youthful profile which would, said Sangh functionaries, add to the idea of show of strength.
“This will be the biggest gathering of RSS volunteers ever in history. It will surpass the last one in Pune in January last year where 1.5 lakh volunteers attended,” said Ajay Mittal, head of publicity for Meerut RSS.
The event would involve people from three commissionerates — Meerut, Sahranpur and Moradabad — from across 14 administrative districts, which the RSS has divided for its own convenience into 25 of its own districts. The RSS, said Mittal, was aiming to involve all the 10,580 villages in the event.
According to Mittal, another aspect of the congregation is to involve people at the household level. “We will collect six lakh food packets from three lakh families of the area to feed the volunteers. As none will know the caste-background from where a particular packet has come, it will also help in eradicating caste discrimination and bias.”
“We want involvement from all villages for facilitation of expansion of shakhas it indirectly translates into a mass contact exercise. The purpose is to project Sangh as a positive force in the society, and open it up to a wider audience,” Mittal added. The concerted moves of the physical drills would, said Mittal, highlight the ideal of discipline, especially among RSS volunteers.
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- The gathering will be presided over by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, while Hindu spiritual guru Avadheshanand Giri will chair the meet. The event would involve people from three commissionerates — Meerut, Sahranpur and Moradabad
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