Termed Sadbhavna Sangam, event brings local activists and intellectuals together to discuss issues such as unemployment and tribal rights.
New Delhi: The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF), a social sector institution primarily run by the Congress, is organising special events — in which discussions are held on a host of issues from unemployment, tribal rights to communal harmony — in the poll-bound states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.
Called Sadbhavna Sangam, the event brings local activists, intellectuals and educationists under one roof, to discuss the growing division among communities and the current political situation in the country.
The foundation had so far held five such meetings in Madhya Pradesh – at Bhopal, Gwalior, Bhind, Santa and Damoh. It is planning to organise nine meetings in all nine divisions of Madhya Pradesh in the first stage. At a later stage, the meetings will be organised at the district level, before they are taken to the two other states.
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Five sessions through the day
The foundation has kept the format of the meeting consistent. Sources said the event starts in the morning, where a senior office-bearer of the foundation briefs the gathering on the topics to be discussed.
Thereafter, invited guests are asked to comment in a freewheeling discussion.
“Apart from national and state-specific topics, some local issues are also raised and discussed in the meeting,” an RGF office-bearer, who did not want to be named, told ThePrint. The official cited the example of Satna, where mining was taken up as it is a major issue in the region.
“Usually there are five different sessions from morning to evening in which issues related to Adivasis, Dalits, communal harmony, unemployment and all the suggestions are included,” the office-bearer said.
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Sources said that reports based on the outcomes of the meeting are sent to the foundation’s office in New Delhi, which in turn forwards them to Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who is expected to be using them in formulating the party’s strategy for the states.
The foundation, however, denied suggestions that there are political motives behind these meetings. “Whatever we do is looked at from the Congress prism,” said Vijay Mahajan, CEO of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. “As a think-tank, we deliberate on several issues and come out with a policy paper or report for anyone to use.”