Former President Ram Nath Kovind will be the chief guest of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), its annual Vijaydashami celebration in Nagpur on October 2, sources said. This year is particularly special because the Sangh, which is seen as the ideological foundation of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is 100 years old.
Vijaydashami program is one of the main events of the RSS calendar, which attracts the attention of the country. RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat will be expected to give his usual speech at this instance with his vision outlining the present needs and future direction of the organisation. The presence of the chief guest, Kovind, gives significance to the milestone and further adds eminence to the centenary celebrations.
To this day, Kovind, who served as the 14th President of India between 2017 and 2022, has been cited several times due to his simple lifestyle, adherence to constitutional values and his grassroots to top political stance. His attendance at the RSS event is most likely to be of politically interest considering the influence of RSS in the ideology and the politics of the BJP.
This is not the first time national bigwigs have attended the quarters of Nagpur of the RSS. In 2018, a three-year training camp of the Sangh saw the historic presence of former President Pranab Mukherjee, in what was a significant example of the Sangh reaching out to newer audiences. In 2023, retired Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) head K. Radhakrishnan was invited as the chief guest in the Vijaydashami celebrations.
The presence of Ram Nath Kovind at the event will, in a way, be having an element of a century-old journey, the power and role of the Sangh in defining the socio-political discourse in India.
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