Union ministers, BJP MPs to attend RSS' Guru Dakshina ceremony

Union ministers and BJP MPs associated with the RSS will attend a 'Guru Dakshina' ceremony organised by the Sangh to be held at Union Minister Jitendra Singh's residence here on Thursday, sources said.

An RSS 'shakha' will be especially organised for the MPs and the ministers where they would be saluting a saffron flag (Dhwaja Pranam) and offering cash in a sealed envelope as 'Guru Dakshina' (offering to the teacher), they said.

RSS joint general secretary Krishna Gopal, who is also Sangh's pointsman for the BJP, will chair the event and also deliver a lecture (Bauddhik), the sources said.

'Guru Dakshina' is an annual ritual in which 'Swayamsevaks' in all the fields participate, and is viewed as a reaffirmation of their commitment to the Sangh ideology.

This would be the first 'Guru Dakshina' programme after the BJP retained power.

According to the sources, in Delhi alone, more than 95,000 volunteers took part in various Guru Dakshina programmes organised by the Sangh last year. Besides senior BJP leaders and several ministers of the central government, many prominent scientists and film personalities had also participated in these events.

The tradition of 'Guru Dakshina' began in 1928, when the Sangh had only managed to collect Rs 84.50 from its volunteers. Since then, the Sangh has made many changes for 'Guru Dakshina'.

If a person wants to pay a huge amount, a check or a draft has been made mandatory. While 'Guru Dakshina' can be directly transferred into the bank account of the RSS, the sources said, adding that now email IDs and Aadhaar numbers have also been made mandatory for 'Guru Dakshina'.