The annual meeting of the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS) was to be held in Bengaluru from March 15-17 to decide on the organisation’s future course of action, The News Minute has reported.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has called off the three-day annual meeting of its highest decision-making body that was scheduled to begin on Saturday, RSS General Secretary Suresh Joshi said.

The annual meeting of the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS) was to be held in Bengaluru from March 15-17 to decide on the organisation’s future course of action.

“In view of the seriousness of the pandemic COVID-19 and in the light of instructions and advisories thereof issued by the Union and the state governments, the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS) meeting scheduled in Bengaluru has been suspended. All RSS workers should cooperate with administration to create awareness among public and to face this challenge successfully (sic),” the Sangh’s Executive Head Joshi said in a statement.

The Karnataka government on Friday announced that conferences and seminars cannot be held across the state for a week, starting Saturday.

However the RSS on Friday evening said that the convention would continue in Bengaluru’s Vishwa Samvada Kendra, and for that a thermal screening centre had been set up at the venue with 20 doctors. Thermal screening of guests was taking place on Friday before they were allowed inside. 

Karnataka Health Department on Friday had take all possible measures by announcing that all malls, theaters, pubs, seminars, conventions and exhibitions would be shuttered for a week to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Colleges have been granted leave for seven days. Weddings, seminars, conventions and public gatherings have been banned for a week as well. 

TNM had earlier reported the RSS’s Prachar Pramukh (joint publicity chief) Narender Thakur saying that it was mandatory for all RSS workers, office bearers, media and other visitors to undergo screening before attending the ABPS meeting. “Security personnel and journalists covering the meeting will be screened,” he had said.

Image Source: Asianet News