Will they or will they not attend three-day long RSS lecture in Delhi?

The event is aimed at helping the invitees know more about the Sangh Parivar and its ideologies and remove misconceptions about them

There is much confusion about the list of invitees and confirmed attendees to an event organised by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Delhi. The three-day lecture series, “Future of Bharat: An RSS perspective”, kicks off at Vigyan Bhavan in Delhi today. Top RSS functionaries from across the country and the world are expected to attend the event, which is aimed at helping the invitees know more about the Sangh Parivar and its ideologies and remove misconceptions about them. It was reported that the RSS had sent out invitations to Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, among several others. While Gandhi is yet to clarify his stand, Yadav said he had little knowledge about the RSS and had read that Sardar Patel had banned the outfit. “After reading that paragraph, I don’t have the courage to attend the meet,” he said at an event.

Sugar-coating politics

It is not unusual to see members of the Opposition opposing just for the sake of it. So it came as a surprise when Nationalist Congress Party supremo and former agriculture minister Sharad Pawar complimented the government at the Centre for its handling of the sugar crisis and its big focus on ethanol to provide a long-term solution to the problem. While handing out a word of caution on the enormity of the crisis, he also congratulated Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Uttar Pradesh for becoming the number one state in sugar production surpassing Maharashtra. In these times of bitter politics, it’s rare to see such gesture.

Naidu’s discovery of Nehru

Members and former members of the current government might be not so fond of first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, but are quick to acknowledge his contribution when travelling abroad. On Saturday, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu addressed the National Assembly of Serbia in Belgrade. A statement from his office said the honour to Naidu revived the spirit of “Marshal (Josip Broz) Tito-Pandit Nehru years”. Nehru had addressed the National Assembly of what was then Yugoslavia, while launching the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961. Naidu quoted from the speech Nehru had delivered at the same venue in 1961. A few days back the BJP’s UP government removed a statue of Nehru in Allahabad.