RSS men can’t tell desi from Chinese, fail rakhi diktat
Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) veterans were surprised when they saw their cadres wearing ‘China made’ rakhis on Raksha Bandhan despite the Sangh’s ‘no-Chineserakhi’ campaign.
This situation came to the fore when the leaders visited a slum locality in Lucknow to celebrate the festival among Dalits as part of the organisation’s larger aim to unite the Hindus by bridging the caste divide.
The Sangh leaders quickly got the Chinese rakhis replaced with swadeshi ones and explained the difference to the cadre.
Raksha Bandhan is among the six major festivals that the Sangh celebrates. The ‘no-Chinese-rakhi’ campaign was timed amid an increasingly bitter New Delhi-Beijing standoff over Doklam, which is under China’s control but claimed by Bhutan. This, Sangh leaders say, prompted them to think of ways to weaken China financially.
But the mix-up showed the cadres hadn’t quite understood how to distinguish the foreign version from the ‘desi.’
“The cadres who got the rakhis on the occasion weren’t aware of the differences between Chinese and Indian made rakhis,” an RSS source told HT.
“Unlike flashy, well-cut rakhis that are sold at attractive rates, the Indian version is mostly a simple thread,” a Sangh leader said, admitting that several rakhi-sellers may have just been similarly confused.
Despite this, the RSS isn’t worried as it seeks to iron out the shortcomings ahead of other festivals – Janmashtami, Ganesh Utsav, Navratri and Diwali. By then, its expects the ‘no-Chinese’ campaign to gain momentum.
“We will continue to build public opinion against China,” Sangh veteran Mahirajdhwaj said, claiming the campaign was receiving encouraging feedback.