scorecardresearch
Friday, March 29, 2024
Support Our Journalism
HomePoliticsWhat went behind the making of the mega RSS conclave in Delhi

What went behind the making of the mega RSS conclave in Delhi

Follow Us :
Text Size:

The three-day RSS event, addressed by its chief Mohan Bhagwat, was the first in 44 years. 

New Delhi: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat’s three-day lecture series in the heart of the national capital was, in a way, a historic event for the organisation.

The last time a Sangh chief addressed such an exhaustive conclave was 44 years ago in Pune under Madhukar Dattatraya Deoras. His views expressed at the Vasant Vyakhyanmala (spring lecture series) in 1974 are still considered by the RSS to be a policy statement of sorts. It was at this event that Deoras called untouchability a sin, making clear Sangh’s position on caste discrimination.

In this context, the sarsanghchalak‘s conclave — ‘Future of Bharat: An RSS Perspective’ — that ended Wednesday, and during which he spoke extensively on a gamut of issues, was a milestone event for the Sangh. ThePrint takes a look at what went behind its making.

Organising the event

The need for such an outreach programme was felt not just to explain the Sangh perspective to a wider audience, but also to get the highest authority to spell out its official stand on contemporary issues, said sources in the RSS.

The RSS view was that there had been no formal opinion communicated on several key issues, and the aim was to fill that gap.

Such an event is now unlikely to happen at least till 2025, when the Sangh turns 100.

Sources said given that the Sangh chief’s annual calendar is decided at the Pratinidhi Sabha in March, the idea for the conclave would have taken birth there. The
sarsanghchalak‘s availability and travel plan to different states is communicated to state units so they can plan around that.

The RSS Delhi prant proposed the event.


Also read: In boycotting RSS event, Congress lost chance to reach out to more voters


Operationally and logistically, the three-day event and the preparations preceding it were handled by the Delhi unitwith the “national team not involved per se”. However, national RSS functionaries such as Arun Kumar and Manmohan Vaidya “were involved with guiding and mentoring the process”.

The RSS and each of its state units have divisions — shareerik and bouddhik (physical and intellectual), seva (social service), prachar (media/publicity), sampark (contact) and vishesh sampark (special contact) — each with an assigned area of work. For the mega event in New Delhi, the RSS state unit’s individual departments handled one core area of work each.

Invitations

The contours of the event were fixed three months ago and invitations were sent out only after the announcement was made on 27 August. It was decided to invite a cross-section of people — industrialists, film and sports personalities, politicians, retired judges, ambassadors, bureaucrats and academics/intellectuals.

Each specialised unit was in-charge of drawing up a list of invitees that fall within their domain and extend invitations. Since this was intended to be an outreach programme to put forth the RSS perspective, it was decided not to invite too many Sangh swayamsevaks (volunteers).

Venue and publicity

Application for the venue, Vigyan Bhavan, was submitted on 28 August.

“The RSS is about an organisation and not individuals, and hence, it weren’t some specific people but dedicated teams behind the organisation of this event,” an RSS source said on condition of anonymity.

Bharat Bhushan, secretary of RSS’s Delhi unit, was responsible for anchoring the entire show and drawing up the sequence of events. The prachar department, which falls under Rajiv Tuli, had the task of handling the media and publicising the event, including drawing up the invite list from the media.


Also read: In RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s words lie the BJP’s 2019 campaign


The sampark and vishesh sampark vibhag were responsible for bureaucrats, ambassadors, retired judges, politicians and academics. Sangh’s cultural unit Sanskar Bharti had the charge of inviting those from the world of sports and cinema, while education arm Vidya Bharti took care of vice-chancellors, professors and others from the field of education, along with help from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

Social media, which played a crucial role in transmitting and publicising the event, was handled entirely by volunteers.

“No outside/professional agency was engaged for any aspect. Everything was handled internally and by swayamsevaks,” said another RSS source on condition of anonymity.

Logistics

The logistics too were handled by swayamsevaks. To begin with, for the first two-three rows of the VIPs, a karyakarta (worker) was assigned to each. The karyakarta’s task was to wait for the person at the gate and escort her/him to the seat.

Other workers at the venue were responsible for ensuring smooth floor management and adequate seating as per assigned categories. The Sangh said there were 250-300 workers at the venue each day, and another 200-odd outside helping with other aspects, including social media.

The hall at Vigyan Bhavan where the event was organised has a seating capacity of around 1,200, and given the packed hall plus a separate smaller hall where the programme was being telecast, the RSS drew an estimate of roughly 1,500 participants on an average each day.

“All swayamsevaks and karyakartas who came from outside managed their own logistics and stay, and no separate arrangements were made for them,” the source added.

Social media

On the first two days, Bhagwat delivered one-way lectures, but on the last day, he took questions that had been submitted by audience members in writing on yellow slips provided to them, and collected by volunteers.

An internal assessment suggested around 220 questions were received, which were taken up in batches based on themes.

On social media, the event was webcast live across platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Periscope. The RSS claimed it got 15 lakh live views on Facebook, around 1 million on YouTube and other channels, and an average of 1,500 live viewers at any given point on Periscope across three days. It also claimed that around 1.5 lakh tweets were posted about the event.

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube, Telegram & WhatsApp

Support Our Journalism

India needs fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism, packed with on-ground reporting. ThePrint – with exceptional reporters, columnists and editors – is doing just that.

Sustaining this needs support from wonderful readers like you.

Whether you live in India or overseas, you can take a paid subscription by clicking here.

Support Our Journalism

1 COMMENT

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Most Popular