New Delhi: The RSS’s intellectual body, the Prajna Pravah, held a two-day meeting last weekend at the Tagore Hall at Gandhi Darshan, which adjoins Mahatma Gandhi’s samadhi at Raj Ghat in New Delhi.

At the meeting, which was attended by top RSS leaders, including Mohan Bhagwat, former Union minister Murli Manohar Joshi and the BJP general secretary Ram Madhav, the RSS’s saffron flag was raised and prayers chanted.

“Sangh ka dhwaj lagakar prarthna hua tha (The RSS flag was unfurled and prayers were chanted),” an RSS pracharak told the Indian Express. Another delegate said, “The significance of this meeting is that the RSS flag was unfurled and prayers chanted at the place built after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.”

A senior official of the Gandhi Darshan said that the organisers of the meeting had approached them a month ago to book the premises, but since they rent out only to those who conduct programmes related to Gandhiji, they asked them for details of the programme. They were told it was a programme related to Gandhiji but did not share details.

Apart from the hall where the meeting took place, the organisers has rented three dormitories – which have 20 beds each – and some rooms.

Some RSS programmes have been held at the venue in the past, during Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s tenure as prime minister.

The Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti is an autonomous body, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the chairperson of the governing body of the Samiti and minister of state for culture Mahesh Sharma is its vice chairperson.