JAIPUR: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is holding its all-India coordination meeting in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, from September 5 to 7. Around 300 senior office-bearers from 32 RSS-linked organisations are expected to participate in the three-day event, which will focus on issues of national unity, security and social change.
Officials from across the country will begin arriving in Jodhpur from Wednesday night. For the first time, metropolitan and provincial-level volunteers have been assigned the task of welcoming national leaders at the airport and railway station and escorting them to the meeting venue.
The RSS leadership reached the city on Tuesday. Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat, Sarkaryavah Dattatreya Hosabale and co-Sarkaryavahs Krishna Gopal, C.R. Mukunda, Arun Kumar, Ramdutt Chakradhar, Alok Kumar and Atul Limaye arrived at the Adarsh Defense and Sports Academy campus in Lalsagar, where the sessions will be held. Senior functionary Manmohan Vaidya and several other national officials have also joined.
In anticipation of the gathering, the Jodhpur Police Commissionerate has banned the flying of drones in the city from Monday morning until further notice. Security has been tightened around the meeting site and at other sensitive locations, with police officials saying that the city is on high alert.
The agenda for the coordination meeting includes national security, shifting social equations, religious demography and the RSS’s centenary-year programs. Economic concerns, the situation at India’s borders, the Swavalamban Abhiyan and the issue of illegal migration are also expected to come up for discussion. According to sources, demographic issues raised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech may also be debated.
Preparatory meetings have been underway since September 1 to set the stage for the main sessions. The formal deliberations will run from September 5 to 7, after which Bhagwat will remain in Jodhpur until September 9. During this time, several smaller meetings are scheduled, and leaders associated with Rajasthan politics are also likely to attend, giving the event added political significance in the state.