Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat is expected to make his first visit to Canada later this year, according to people involved in organising events planned during the trip.
The visit is scheduled for August 31 and September 1, and he is only expected to travel to Toronto, they said, adding that the trip is in the final planning stages.
His visit to Canada will follow a five-day tour of the United States, which will conclude with a public programme in New York City and then Bhagwat will depart for Toronto. He will hold a public event with the diaspora in Toronto and participate in meetings the next day, the persons cited above said. They asked not to be named as the visit has yet to be officially announced.
After Toronto, Bhagwat depart for the United Kingdom.
The events are being organised as part of the RSS’ global outreach efforts. “We want to correct the narrative about RSS which is prevalent in the West including in Canada,” one of the organisers told HT.
Organisers are also taking security measures due to the possibility of protests by pro-Khalistan groups during the visit.
This will be Bhagwat’s first trip to Canada, and the first by an RSS chief to the country in over 20 years since KS Sudarshan’s visit in 2005.
One of the organisers said the RSS chief could have come to Canada earlier but the situation during the tenure of then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was not conducive for such a visit.
With relations between India and Canada better since Mark Carney replaced Trudeau as the country’s prime minister last March, such a trip was now considered feasible, the person pointed out.
