The brochure and invitation card for the seminar states that the meet intended to identity and analyse the values behind the Kumbh Mela, which will be held next year in the holy city of Ujjain. The state government has earmarked a sum of Rs. 300 crore for making arrangements for Kumbh. This sum is besides the Rs. 100 crore, which the Government of India has allocated for Kumbh - a once-in- twelve--year event. The brochure gives historical status to various mythological beliefs regarding Kumbh.

The lists of values which were discussed and which the Government of Madhya Pradesh proposes to promote are basically those which are upheld by the believers in Hindu religion. The sponsors, perhaps, forgot that the Ministers of the BJP government have taken an oath to uphold and promote the values that emanate from the Constitution of India. As far as this programme was concerned, it sought to propagate Hindu religious values. A question that can be legitimately asked is whether government funds can be used to propagate values of one particular religion in our plural and secular polity. The state, if at all, can and should promote only values common to all the religions whose practitioners live in India.

Beside religious values, we also cherish values derived from the freedom movement and from the Constitution. There was hardly any mention of these values in the three-day seminar. A leading English daily published from Bhopal has questioned the propriety of such a seminar. The organisers have announced that many more such seminars will be held before, during and after the Kumbh. The sponsors of the programme have circulated a list of about 100 speakers who will participate in the proposed seminars.

They include Dinanath Batra, who, among other things, wants school text books to say that there were airplanes in ancient India and that Ram and Krishna were historical figures. The very inclusion of Batra's name among the speakers makes real intensions of the organizers clear.

The state government through a series of discussions seems to be attempting to conduct the mega religious congregation of Kumbh in a way that would please the RSS.

The RSS, regarded as the ideological fountainhead of the BJP, remains important for any leader of the party, as it is the one constant in the changed BJP after Narendra Modi took over as Prime Minister nearly a year ago.

The state government has started a series of discussions to be organised over the coming months in the run-up to the religious congregation. The structure of the discussions has been prepared in such a way that it covers subjects dear to the RSS. Speakers have been invited from other countries as well, giving the programme an international standing.

On April 18, speakers discussed value-based approach to school and technical education, information technology, administration and governance, law and jurisprudence, family and social life, medical sector, professional life and public life. The issues discussed were based on themes close to the RSS.

The issues to be taken up in the upcoming discussions include Unity of all Sects, Global concerns on Environment, Science and Spirituality in October 2015, November 2015 and February 2016 respectively. All these subjects have been close to the RSS and have been discussed at various fora of the Sangh and its associate organisations regularly.

The RSS regards Simhastha as more than a meeting of the faithful or an opportunity to take a dip in a holy river. The RSS perceives Simhastha as an important event in the Hindu calendar that affords it an opportunity for a dialogue between various groups in society and for forging “Samajik Samrasta” – roughly translated as harmony between various castes in the Hindu fold. The discussions planned by the state government will dwell on these subjects.

It is generally believed that through various academic programmes, the chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan wants to promote values and principles which are dear to the RSS. In fact, Chouhan, often goes out of the way to please RSS and its bosses. It may be mentioned here that Chouhan is the first chief minister of the state to have lifted the ban on the participation of government servants in activities of the RSS. (IPA Service)