Denying that the VHP’s ghar vapsi was in essence a conversion campaign, senior RSS leader Manmohan Vaidya said on Saturday that connecting to one’s roots was “a natural urge.”
“ Ghar vapsi is a natural urge to connect to our roots. It is a homecoming. It has been going on for long. No law and order problem was created because of the drive. It is not illegal. The process of returning to your roots is a worldwide trend. Some people are creating controversies out of nothing,” he said at a press conference here on the sidelines of a three-day convention of RSS office-bearers.
“ It is a homecoming. It has been going on for long. No law and order problem was created because of the drive. It is not illegal ”
Mr. Vaidya said the RSS believed that the larger cultural identity of Indians was Hindu.
Sanjay Joshi, former member of the BJP national executive and a friend-turned-foe of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, attended the convention on Saturday. In 2012, he was forced to resign from the national executive following pressure from Mr. Modi.
In the evening, the RSS took out a march through three locations on the outskirts of the city.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat flagged it off.
Nearly 25,000 RSS workers registered themselves for the convention, and 14,558 attended it by the second day. The number of ‘shakhas’ (branches) has gone up by 4,500 in 2014.
