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The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) will soon invite diplomatic missions of around 60 countries for a three-day lecture series in Delhi, except Pakistan, The Indian Express has reported.
The lecture series, which will be addressed by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on the theme 'Future of Bharat: An RSS perspective', is scheduled at Vigyan Bhawan next week. Bhagwat will also take questions from the audience during the event.
Besides representatives from diplomatic missions, the Sangh will also be inviting all national political parties and regional parties with a strong base in states which target RSS on various issues.
Representatives from industries, media and other sectors are also expected to be invited.
An RSS functionary told the newspaper: “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.”
The person also said the Embassy of China would be invited because the country has “cultural similarities with India”.
On day one, Bhagwat will speak about the Sangh’s organisation, ideology, vision, activities and programmes. On the second day, Bhagwat will express his views on various contemporary issues of national significance, including reservation, communalism and Hindutva.
The report suggests that the organisers will invite heads of all national political parties with a request to attend the lecture series along with four to five other party members.
Trinamool Congress (TMC), Samajwadi Party (SP) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) are some of the other parties that could be invited.
In August, reports had suggested that the Indian right-wing organisation was likely to invite Congress President Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders.
Indications that Gandhi could be invited came days after the latter drew parallels between the Sangh and Middle East-based Islamic radical outfit Muslim Brotherhood.
On August 27, however, Congress said it had not received any invite for Gandhi to attend the event and would respond to questions on the matter only after an invitation is received.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury was also likely to be invited for the event.
The RSS conclave comes less than a month after the opposition, especially Congress president Rahul Gandhi, launched a frontal attack on the BJP, hyphenating the policies and decisions of the Narendra Modi government with its ideological moorings in the RSS.
In June, former president Pranab Mukherjee had attended a function of the RSS in Nagpur — a decision which was widely criticised.
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