London: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat will attend a three-day mega event in the east of England to celebrate the golden jubilee of UK-based charity Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh.
“As a kick start to the year-long celebrations, we have embarked upon organising an unprecedented residential gathering of over 2,200 Hindus from across the UK and Europe from 29 to 31 July at Hertfordshire County Show Ground, near Luton,” Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) UK said in a statement.
‘Sanskriti: Mahashibir 2016’ beginning tomorrow has been organised by HSS to celebrate its golden jubilee year.
“The venue will be transformed into a fully tented (over 400 tents) township, with all facilities and amenities. The theme of this historic gathering is sanskaar (values of life), sewa (selfless service) and sangathan (community spirit),” the statement added.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Bhagwat is the chief guest of the event and will join thousands of Hindus in one of the many tents and address the gathering on Sunday, the concluding day of the Mahashbir. “Every effort is made to use recyclable materials in the construction of site and activities (avoiding plastic materials).
The idea is to generate awareness of environmental sustainability in the participants, majority of whom will be youths. Number of prominent personalities from world over will be visiting the event to address and interact with the participants,” HSS UK said.
The charity is an RSS-inspired organisation dating back to the 1960s and describes itself as a social-cultural national organisation of Hindus with over 110 weekly activity centres across the UK and a national average weekly attendance of over 2,000.
It was in the news earlier this year as part of an undercover television investigation that showed one of its teachers making anti-Muslim and anti-Christian remarks to some students.
The UK Charity Commission, which registers and monitors all charities in the country, launched an investigation into the footage in February 2015. “We can reassure the public that we take these issues seriously,” a spokesperson had said.
HSS UK had stressed that the individual caught on camera was not an office-bearer, adding that it will take “even greater care that no views are expressed from its platform that could directly or indirectly promote interfaith discord”.
PTI