By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net,
Bhopal: Rajgarh, the bastion of Digvijay Singh, general secretary of the All India Congress Committee, (AICC), is all decked up with a saffron hue where 3-day massive Hindu convention of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, (RSS), is getting underway on November 13 to discuss various issues including terrorism, corruption, conversion, infiltration, casteism, proposed communal violence Bill etc.
The RSS move to hold Hindu convention at Rajgarh, which was a princely state under the British Raj, is to corner Digvijay Singh in his home town as he has been targeting the Sangh Parivar off and on with his caustic statements and remarks which has probably unsettled the RSS and forced it on the back foot. Singh has accused the RSS of involvement in terror activities. He had accused the RSS cadres of involvement in terror activities way back in 2002 when he was still the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh saying that he had enough proof to back his allegations. He continues to attack the RSS.
Though Singh has kept his word about not contesting an election for 10 years after the humiliating loss in the 2003 Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, he makes it a point to campaign in Rajgarh. In the 2009 Lok Sabha general election, Narayan Singh, who had never contested even an Assembly election, had won the Rajgarh seat thanks to his mentor Singh.
A huge tent township has come up in Rajgarh, a parliamentary seat once held by Digvijay Singh and where he continues to call the shots, at the Sankat Mochan Mandir venue. Whole of the Rajgarh has been decorated with saffron flags and the RSS workers from all over the district have reached to perform voluntary services in preparing the venue for the grand occasion. The town is 145 KMs from the Madhya Pradesh state capital Bhopal. Some Swayam Sevaks would also exhibit physical exercise and an exhibition of nationalism and the works done by the Sangh.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat will address the convention on Sunday at a stadium named after Hindutva icon Veer Savarkar during his first-ever visit to the communally sensitive town.
Activists of Hindu Samagam Samiti, Rajgarh, moved from door to door in the nearby villages making people to take a pledge to adopt Swadeshi, to keep away from foreign goods, work for cow protection and greet each other with ‘Ram Ram’ among other things.
Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee, (MPCC), president and MP Kantilal Bhuria in a statement here said: “The RSS that was born to nurture Hindu interests has deviated from its aim and has totally forgotten them. Now, it is only acting as the political agent of the BJP and is working for the interest of the BJP while indulging in vote bank politics.”
Bhuria further said that the outfit ‘now works to mislead Hindus by resorting to dramatics of organising Hindu conclaves for last few years in Madhya Pradesh. It is surprising to note that the RSS’s mentors of the State remember to hold this type of conclaves when the elections in the State are around (the corner)’. A similar Hindu conclave was organised by the RSS in Jhabua during the last Assembly elections of the State, and since then, it never looked back at the plight of that region, he added.
Bhuria, also a former Union Minister, advised the RSS to go back to its roots of Hindu interest and take up genuine concern as the way of reviving its reputation which is fast falling among the Hindus. It would be in the interest of the RSS to stay away from political gimmicks, he added.([email protected])