Meet of RSS-backed bodies ends with call for expansion of work

A three-day meet of RSS-backed social work organisations, which was attended by spiritual leaders and corporate heavyweights, including Wipro chairman Azim Premji and Zee boss Subhash Chandra, concluded here today with an emphasis on the need for these entities to expand their reach and activities.
The 'Rashtriya Sewa Sangam' conclave, which is organised by Rashtriya Sewa Bharati, an RSS umbrella body that supports hundreds of social work organisations, is held every five years to assess past work and draw up future strategies.
Over 3,050 activists associated with more than 700 organisations from across the country attended the meet, where the message from the RSS brass was that the network and scope of the activities of these organisations needs to be expanded.

Premji had addressed the gathering in the presence of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. The IT czar had said he believed that by sharing the stage one does not necessarily also endorse the ideology or views expressed at the forum.
Other prominent people who attended the meet include GM Rao of the GMR group and spiritual leader Amritanandmayi Maa. Filmmaker Subhash Ghai had attended the inauguration of an exhibition a day before the conclave began.
Addressing the session on the second day, Bhagwat had emphasised that such organisations needed to double the pace of their activities and spread their network.

Other Sangh speakers, too, sought expansion of the area of work while holding that service should reach all the needy sections of society.

Apart from Bhagwat, senior RSS functionaries Suresh 'Bhaiyya ji' Joshi, Dattatreya Hosbole, Suresh Soni, Krishan Gopal, Suhas Hiremath and Ajit Mahapatra were among those who took part in the meet.
"Bringing activists from across the country instils a community-like feeling of being together and such events also help to raise the morale of the activists," a Sangh leader said. This was the second edition of the convention, with the first meet having been held in Bengaluru.