After the BJP asked its MPs and MLAs to visit Dalit villages and to share meals with the community, RSS wing Sewa Vibhag has decided to rope in Hindu seers for a similar campaign. The campaign, named ‘Samajik samrasta evam sadhbhav yatra’ (social equality and harmony yatra), will cover the Western UP region. The plan for the yatra was chalked out at a two-day ‘chintan baithak’ that concluded in Vrindavan on Tuesday. As part of the campaign, beginning on May 7 from Hapur, saints of prominent temples and mutts from these areas will spend at least seven days in a district and hold at least three programmes every day. Sources said that villages with statues of Bhimrao Amedkar and Gautam Buddha will be preferred for the campaign. Saints along with local RSS functionaries will offer tribute at these statues and will preach social equality and unity of Hindus. They will have breakfast and lunch at Dalit houses and a community dinner will be held. READ | Why politicians eat with Dalits Sewa Vibhag chief of the Western UP region, Ganga Ram told The Indian Express, “The problem of differences due to caste is more serious in rural areas.” He said that saints will also visit the spots where statues of Ambedkar and Buddha are placed and sawayamsevaks from other offshoots of RSS will accompany them. At the Vrindavan meeting, the functionaries discussed that saints should not confine themselves to preaching for unity of Hindus, but should rather participate in such campaigns. Saints from Muzaffarnagar, Bareilly, Aligarh, Bulandshahr, Moradabad, etc, took part in the meeting.“More than 50 prominent saints attended the meeting, where concerns were raised about the division of Hindu society. If saints will tour villages and dine with deprived sections of the society, it will be a more effective message for unity of Hindus,” Ram said.
