New Delhi: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has invited Kamaltai R. Gavai, mother of Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai, as the chief guest at its centenary and Vijayadashami celebration in Amravati, Maharashtra. The event is scheduled to be held in early October at Srimati Narsamma Mahavidyalaya Maidan. Senior RSS leader J. Nandakumar will deliver the main address.
According to the invitation, Kamaltai Gavai is president of the Shri Dadasaheb Gawai Charitable Trust in Amravati. Sources in the RSS confirmed she has accepted the invitation. Her presence at the function is drawing attention given the organisation’s increasing outreach to senior figures in the judiciary. After former Chief Justices Ranjan Gogoi and D.Y. Chandrachud, analysts see this as part of the Sangh’s efforts to extend influence in top legal circles.
The development comes soon after a controversy over Justice Gavai’s oral remarks in court advising a petitioner to pray to Lord Vishnu for the repair of an idol. The comment was criticised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, whose president Alok Kumar urged judges and lawyers alike to maintain restraint in speech. Justice Gavai later clarified that his statement had been misrepresented on social media.
In a parallel event, former President Ram Nath Kovind has been invited as chief guest at the RSS’s Vijayadashami gathering in Nagpur on October 2. He will share the stage with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. Kovind’s presence, as the second Dalit President of India after K.R. Narayanan, is seen as part of the organisation’s attempt to highlight social inclusion under its Samajik Samrasta campaign. Observers note that the choice of such guests carries political and social weight at a time when caste and representation are central to national debate.
Meanwhile, Kamaltai, founder-chairperson of the Dadasaheb Gavai Charitable Trust, issued a statement calling the reports “false” and a “conspiracy.” She said, “I have not accepted any invitation nor given written consent to attend the programme. I will not be present at the Vijayadashami event of the RSS in Amravati. My family is deeply committed to Ambedkarite thought and the Constitution of India. Associating me with such an event is misleading and untrue.”
