Rebuilt RSS office fuses tech with architecture

New Delhi: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has moved back its office in the city to its old address following the near completion of the rebuilding project spread across five lakh sq ft of built-up area over 3.75 acre premises, housing three 13-storey towers and around 300 rooms and offices in total.

Sources said the rebuilding exercise of the RSS office, Keshav Kunj, has cost nearly Rs 150 crore collected through contributions from over 75,000 people sympathetic to the Hindutva organisation's ideology and took over eight years, a period marked by the disruption and delay forced by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat and general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale will be attending a "karyakarta sammelan" of the organisation's Delhi unit on February 19 to mark the beginning of its work from the Jhandewalan office, they added.

The sources said that the RSS, which is headquartered in Nagpur, will organise its annual 'Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha', considered its apex decision-making body, in Bengaluru from March 21 to March 23.

Attended by nearly 1,500 persons, including senior functionaries of the RSS and affiliated organisations, the meet sees discussions over key germane issues besides organisational matters and resolutions are passed to outline the Sangh's positions on a host of matters. Senior BJP leaders, including the party's president, also attend the exercise.

Speaking of the rebuilt premises in the national capital, the sources said that RSS had been carrying out its activities out of a rented premises since 2016 following the beginning of the rebuilding and renovation exercise at the place out of which it had been working since 1962.

The new premise, a vast change from the earlier two-storey building, fuses modern technology with ancient architectural practices to make it airy and exposed to ample sunlight, they said, adding that Gujarat-based architect Anup Dave has designed it.

The three towers (ground floor plus 12 floors) are named Sadhna, Prerna and Archna, while one of its biggest auditoriums is named after Ashok Singhal, a leading Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) functionary closely linked to the Ram temple movement. This modern auditorium can seat 463 persons, while another hall can accommodate an audience of 650 members.

The RSS office has accommodation facility for its functionaries and members besides a library, health clinic and its sewage treatment plant, the sources said. It also has solar power facilities to provide for a part of its total electricity needs.

The RSS-linked weeklies Panchjanya and Organiser besides publishing firm Suruchi Prakashan, which has been bringing out books and other literature hewed to the Hindutva organisation's ideology, will also have offices in the RSS premises, they added.

The health facilities will be open to the poor people living nearby and outsiders can also make use of the library facilities, the sources said.