Lucknow, July 14, 2013: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is training 3,000 new vistaraks (full-time volunteers) in UP who will soon move across the state with the task to start new shakhas and communicate a message among masses that all communities, including Muslims, are safe in India only under Hindu dominance.

"These vistaraks are being taught that Muslims and other communities are safe in India because it is a Hindu-dominated country. The day the Hindus lose dominance, Muslims will not be safe here," said an RSS office-bearer.

This is the first time in UP that the RSS is training these many youths in one lot, sources said, adding that the vistaraks, who are Class IX (and above) educated, are learning about holding shakhas, RSS's eight sessions, including 'dhwaj pranam', yoga, with regular discussions on contemporary national and international issues among other things.

RSS Sangh Chalak of Awadh region Prabhu Narain Srivastava said that the safety of all communities is being prominently discussed in the shakhas these days. "We are telling people that Muslims are being killed by Muslims in countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Bangladesh. But all communities are safe only in India where the population of Hindus is maximum," Srivastava said.

Post training, these vistaraks will move to different districts and convince the youths there to attend shakhas. Around 1,000 vistaraks will work in the Awadh region, which includes Faizabad district where the RSS and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad are active these days on the issue of Ram temple in Ayodhya.

The vistaraks will work in the field for at least one year and visit both the urban and rural areas.

The RSS currently organises around 4,500 shakhas across the state, although the number declined after the BJP's defeat in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.

With the general elections close, the RSS has increased its activities and plans to hold shakhas up to the mandal level, areas below the tehsils.

Source: The Indian Express, DT. July 14, 2013.