Nagpur: For the first time in its history, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has invited a woman as the chief guest for its foundation day celebrations at its Nagpur Headquarters on Vijayadashami on October 5.
Making an official announcement on Thursday, it said mountaineer Santosh Yadav, a Padma Shri awardee who has climbed Mount Everest twice, will be the chief guest at the ‘Vijayadashami Utsav’. In line with past years, RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat will deliver a speech on the day outlining the organisation’s vision for the year.
The Vijayadashami Utsav of RSS will be held at 7.40 am at Reshimbagh ground here. The ace mountaineer will be the first woman chief guest at the RSS programme. Dr Mohan Bhagwat, Sarsanghchalak of RSS, will grace the occasion and address the gathering.
Vijayadashami Utsav is important as Sarsanghchalak comments on a variety of issues and his speech provides a glimpse of future course of action by the organisation. In the past few years, Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi and Pranab Mukherjee, former President of India, were among the chief guests at RSS’ events. This time, RSS has invited Santosh Yadav.
Born in a village in Rewari district of Haryana, Santosh Yadav became the first woman in the world to scale Mount Everest twice — first in 1992 and next in 1993. For this feat, her name was recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records in 1994. She served as an officer in Indo-Tibetan Border Police, and was honoured with ‘Padma Shri’ in 2000. In 2006, Government of Haryana named a very busy road in Gurgaon after her name to honour her achievement.
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