By Lalmani Verma

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Sunday said that its functionaries in the Awadh region have been told to expedite “public awareness” in rural areas against “anti-social and anti-national activities like love jihad, land jihad and religious conversion”.

On the second day of its four-day meeting held at Saraswati Shishu Mandir in Lucknow Sunday, the focus of the discussion was “land jihad, love jihad, illegal religious conversions”, an RSS functionary said.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, who is on a four-day tour of Lucknow, chaired the meeting.

Bhagwat, who reached Lucknow on September 22, will continue to hold meetings till September 25 regarding the expansion of RSS’s organisational activities ahead of the Lok Sabha elections scheduled for next year.

“Land jihad is the new activity in the rural areas of Uttar Pradesh, bordering Nepal. People are grabbing Hindus’ lands there to build mosques, mazars and dargahs. Land jihad, love jihad and religious conversion of Hindus by Muslims and Christians is a matter of concern. The RSS is already running public awareness programmes against such activities. It has been decided to intensify the awareness activities,” said the RSS functionary.

“Love jihad” is a term used by Hindutva organisations for Muslim men marrying Hindu women.

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