Amid the unrest in Kashmir, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), earlier considered a completely far off proposition in the Valley, has decided to set its foot there.
The RSS will hold its annual review meeting for the first time in Jammu in July, reports PTI. According to the report, the RSS is reportedly looking to send out a message to separatists that the valley is an integral part of the country.
The three-day meet will be attended by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, BJP president Amit Shah and leaders from VHP. It will be held from July 18-20.
“The time and place of meeting was decided to send out a clear message to separatists in the Kashmir valley that the region is integral part of India and the Sangh is committed to its unity,” RSS sources told PTI.
“This is an annual review meeting of the prant parcharks (state publicity officers) to take stock of events and activities of the year gone by, and at the same time, draft out a plan of action for the coming days,” Manmohan Vaidya, Akhil Bhartiya Prachar Pramukh of the RSS said.
He said the meeting will review the summer training camps which RSS organises every year.
Vaidya said it was decided to hold the meeting in Jammu after the regional office there came forward to organise the event. “Earlier we had a small office in Jammu but in the last few years it has been expanded.”
“This will be the first major meeting of the Sangh in Jammu and Kashmir,” he added.
Vaidya said there would be no major decisions in the meeting but various issues facing the country may be taken up for discussion.
The Kashmir Monitor notes that at least 5,000 students from Kupwara, Baramulla, Anantnag and Ladakh are currently enrolled in various RSS-funded schools in Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan.
Earlier Hurriyat Chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani had said that the RSS wants to turn Jammu and Kashmir into a Hindu state. “RSS is an ideological party. They want to turn Jammu and Kashmir into a Hindu state,” he had said.
(With inputs from PTI)