The Rashtriya swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is going to kick off its mega literature campaign to connect with the youth, children and women. This is just days after the BJP's national headquarters got a library in the Capital.

The Sahitya Prasar Abhiyan, to be rolled out in Delhi on Sunday, will see participation of 10,000 RSS volunteers who plan to sell 1,000 packets of books at 1,000 locations across the city. The total number of books to be sold is 40,000 worth Rs 10 lakh. The organisation has pegged the books at nominal rates-Rs 10-30 for a book.

The theme of the books has been kept in line with the ideology of the RSS and the idea of cultural nationalism. "There are five titles, each with numerous volumes that we will be circulated among children, women and the youth: Hanuman for Students, Gita for Students, Short Stories for Children, Bharat Ki Veer Krantikari Mahilayein or Revolutionary Women of India and a book dedicated to the RSS ideology and ideological allegations ascribed on the organisation. The last will be titled RSS Ek Drishtikona or RSS: A Perspective," Rajiv Tuli, Delhi prant prachar pramukh of the RSS, told Mail Today.

Moreover, the RSS has also decided to take another step aiming towards wider reach as the books would be made available not just in Hindi, but in English too. Insiders told Mail Today that the move was aimed at reaching out to conventgoing students from relatively more affluent backgrounds. As an extension of the exercise, the RSS started with many stalls on the campus of the Delhi University from Friday.

Countering Opposition

RSS functionaries also told Mail Today that it was necessary to "hit the streets" to defeat the Opposition propaganda regarding its ideology and that of the BJP.

According to Tuli, this is the third time in a row that the RSS would be organising the drive, the scale though is unprecedented this year. "This campaign happens in different areas at different times of the year. In Delhi, we will be organising this to commemorate Vasant Panchami and Saraswati Puja celebrations. Saraswati is the goddess of learning," said Tuli.

The RSS functionary also claimed that the entire exercise was devoid of any political import and that it was a way of proffering 'good books and the right Indian culture' among the youth. "These books are to inculcate and rekindle within the youth and children of the country, a culture of reading and reading the right literature that has progressively denuded over time," Tuli asserted.

Interestingly, even as the RSS tried to brush off the suggestion of a subterranean ideological onslaught, the book on RSS ideology, meant to be a reader on the Hindu nationalist organisation, has been authored by longtime ideologue MG Vaidya. "The book clarifies a number of misconceptions regarding the RSS as also tried to clear the air over controversies in which our name has been dragged," said an RSS functionary who did not want to be named.

One of the many questions that have been "answered" in this book is regarding the RSS role in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, an allegation that has stuck for a long time. Another major clarification that appears in the book pertains to MS Golwalkar's controversial assertions in his book We or Our Nationhood Defined.

The indoctrinating streak in the literature and the political nature of the exercise are also betrayed by the content of other books too.

Inspiring kids

Hanuman for Children, for instance, is aimed at 'highlighting the Indian god's singleminded devotion towards Lord Rama to inspire kids to emulate the sentiment for the nation'. "We will now be able to reach the children and the youth to read Gita.

We intend that Gita reaches the young generation so that they can get inspired from the idea of equanimity which will help them beat such destructive sentiments as peer-pressure. Suicide among school- and college-goers will surely come down," Tuli claimed.

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