The Hindu : PM, others pay `guru dakshina'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 08, 2002

National

National

PM, others pay `guru dakshina'

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI AUG. 7. It was a special day. A day to remember and acknowledge the debt owed to the `guru'.

All RSS-affiliated BJP MPs, around 200 and including the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, today assembled at the residence of the Minister of State for Home, I.D. Swami, to offer prayers and salute the `bhagwa jhanda', the `guru' of RSS members. And they quietly dropped their `dakshina' (contribution) in sealed envelopes into two boxes. The names of the contributors were entered on the envelopes. And when they are opened at the Nagpur headquarters of the RSS, the contribution of each member will be noted down.

The RSS was run on these donations, an MP and a member of the organisation said. No money was collected from "outsiders". Mr. Vajpayee and Mr. Advani have never failed to offer their `dakshina'.

It was the annual celebration of the day when all RSS members, about 15 lakhs of them throughout the country, meet at different places to pay their contribution. No questions are asked and neither is an amount specified, but it seems that about one month's salary or earnings is expected as `dakshina'.

Normally, this annual function is held at `shakhas', where RSS members gather every morning. For MPs, a special arrangement has been made each year; last time the function was held at the residence of the Human Resource Development Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi.

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