A three-day Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) meeting beginning in Belagavi on Friday does not require government permission because it is a private event, Karnataka home minister Priyank Kharge said, adding that any procession or gathering on public roads must receive police approval after an assessment of the local law and order situation.
Belagavi will host the annual Akhil Bharatiya Prant Pracharak Baithak from July 10 to 12, bringing together RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and senior office bearers from across the country. The annual gathering is expected to draw national, regional and state level functionaries, including convenors of 32 affiliated organisations and members of the organisation’s executive council.
“What is happening in Belagavi is a private programme of the RSS. If they want to get on to the streets and hold a procession or organise a large gathering, then they must obtain government permission. The police will give permission after checking the local law and order situation,” Priyank told reporters.
Bhagwat will be joined by Sarkaryavah Dattatreya Hosabale, Sah Sarkaryavahas Krishna Gopal, CR Mukunda, Arun Kumar, Ramdatt, Alok Kumar and Atul Limaye. Bhagwat is expected to remain in Belagavi for about a week.
Leaders in the know said the meeting will discuss the concluding phase of the RSS centenary celebrations, plans to expand urban shakhas among information technology professionals, business communities and other working professionals, and preparations for the 2026 training camps. National issues, including the forthcoming census, are also expected to be taken up.
{{/usCountry}}Leaders in the know said the meeting will discuss the concluding phase of the RSS centenary celebrations, plans to expand urban shakhas among information technology professionals, business communities and other working professionals, and preparations for the 2026 training camps. National issues, including the forthcoming census, are also expected to be taken up.
{{/usCountry}}RSS leaders said the meeting will review the organisation’s activities and deliberate on its future plans and those of its affiliated bodies.
Belagavi district authorities have stepped up security ahead of the gathering. Deputy commissioner Mohammad Roshan has prohibited the use of drones and other aerial devices around locations where senior RSS leaders will stay.
An order issued under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, has declared a 2 km no fly zone around three event venues until July 14. The restriction covers the Belagavi Foundry Cluster, Sant Meera School, Sahyadri Colony, Bhagyanagar Extension, Shri Jagannath Rao Joshi Samadarshana Bhavan, Goodshed Road and Shastri Nagar. The order bars unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned aircraft systems, drones and paragliders in those areas. Additional civil and reserve police personnel have also been deployed across the city.
Separately, Priyank rejected allegations by BJP MLC CT Ravi that he had sent police personnel to the residence of Hindu activist Tejas Gowda to intimidate him after the activist filed a defamation case against the minister. The suit, filed over Priyank’s recent remarks on the RSS, led a Bengaluru court to issue summons to him.
“Let CT Ravi first give his voice sample and then talk about others,” Priyank said, referring to the controversy over Ravi’s alleged remarks against former minister Laxmi Hebbalkar during the legislature’s winter session in Belagavi.
On the NDA’s complaint to the Election Commission of India alleging large scale irregularities in Karnataka’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, Priyank accused the BJP of following a familiar pattern.
“It is the BJP’s standard operating procedure. First, they will cry, they will make noise about it, they will claim to be victims, and then central agencies will come... This means that they are nothing but puppets of the Centre,” he said.