RSS gets a foothold in Jaipur lit fest

Hosabale and Vaidya to project 'modern' portrait of the parivar at the event starting tomorrow

When Dattatreya Hosabale and Manmohan Vaidya were asked to speak at the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival, beginning Wednesday, the invites sparked a buzz in literary and political circles. The idea of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) seniors occupying the dais at an event largely seen as one dominated by Left-liberal opinion-moulders seemed anathema to many.

Hosabale is effectively the third in command in the RSS hierarchy and Vaidya is the chief spokesperson.

Namita Gokhale, a director of the Jaipur fest, could not comprehend what the uproar was about. “We have always invited people from different ideological viewpoints. There is a need to understand