In an attempt to strengthen its outreach to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities and to counter the Opposition’s narrative that the BJP wants to make changes to the Constitution, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad is set to organise “Dharm Sammelans” (religious conferences) in SC/ST clusters and villages across the country. Many seers will visit and eat at Dalit homes as part of the campaign which is scheduled to start a month before Deepavali.
A senior leader of the VHP informed The Hindu that heads of various religious sects have been urged to visit slum areas or clusters, both in villages and cities, for the initiative. The campaign will be carried out in each of the 9,000 prankhands (sub-divisions) of the VHP. The organisation’s parent body, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), will also participate in the campaign at several places.
“These religious leaders will undertake padyatra [foot march] in the designated areas, organise satsangs [spiritual gatherings], visit homes of people hailing from the communities, and eat at their houses. This will not just strengthen social harmony but will also help dilute the anti-Hindutva sentiments brewing among these communities due to the Opposition’s polarisation tactics,” he said.
The seers will also hold one-to-one talks with community leaders and hold Question-Answer sessions on spiritual and religious topics.
Confirming the campaign, VHP president Alok Kumar said its aim was to counter the attempts being made to “divide the Hindu community” over caste and strengthen the bond between different sects and casts.
“We saw during the Lok Sabha election how caste dominated Hindutva at many places. The Opposition set up a false and baseless narrative that reservation would be scrapped and the Constitution would be changed. This needs to be countered to build a united nation. Who can shine the light to our community better than our religious leaders? This campaign will once again unite the Hindus to fight against falsehoods,” said Mr. Kumar.
