Mohan Bhagwat to Address 2,000 Students at IIMUN Youth Conference in Mumbai

International Movement to Unite Nations (IIMUN) founder Rishabh Shah announced on Tuesday that Bhagwat will attend the inaugural session of the annual championship conference of IIMUN, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year.

The opening session of the conference will focus on the theme, ‘The Role of Youth in Uniting the World, the Indian Way’. The annual gathering will bring together students aged 15 to 19 years, with participation from schools and colleges across different parts of the country.

The interaction with the RSS chief will take place at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) in Mumbai on August 6. Bhagwat is expected to engage with more than 2,000 students representing over 100 cities at the event, which is being described as one of the world’s largest youth-led conferences.

The conference is being held at a time when young people across India are becoming increasingly active in discussions related to democracy, leadership, governance and nation-building.

Speaking to IANS about the initiative, IIMUN founder Rishabh Shah said the organisation has consistently worked towards helping young people understand India’s values while preparing them for leadership responsibilities.

“Our main endeavour is to help youth aged 11 to 19 understand what ‘Bharat’ is and what ‘uniting the world the Bharatiya way’ means. We try to mould the next generation into good leaders. We have been doing this for the past 15 years through various programs. In a year, we aim to organise thousands of programs, which are managed by youth aged 15 to 24. Beyond the age of 24, these individuals move on to different fields — some join politics, others enter films, business, or various other sectors,” Shah told IANS.

Highlighting the reach of IIMUN, Shah said nearly 30,000 students have been associated with the organisation and have actively worked with the platform over the years.

“The number of people who have been impacted is around 7 to 7.5 crore. These are the estimates. As for how many people were actually impacted, you would have to ask them directly,” he added.

Shah also said this would be the third occasion when Mohan Bhagwat would attend an IIMUN event to interact with the younger generation.

“I believe that organisations like RSS and Indian National Congress, along with other prominent institutions, should be studied by the younger generations. These organisations have different ideologies, and hence, the new generation should learn about them,” he said.

Apart from Bhagwat, several prominent personalities, including actor Shabana Azmi, actor Boman Irani and former Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud, are also expected to attend the conference.

Speaking about the importance of exposing young people to different streams of thought, Shah said, “No matter what the ideology is, at the end of the day, when we think about Bharat, everyone needs to come together, engage to build leaders of the young Indians as we need all — Savarkar, Sardar Patel, Swami Vivekanand and Mahatma Gandhi — especially this generation.”

Commenting on the recent Cockroach Janata Party (CJP)-led protests over repeated paper leaks and alleged examination irregularities, Shah said the concerns raised by students required attention irrespective of political affiliations.

“The issues that were raised during the protest were of utmost importance. Neither CJP nor BJP; we need to talk about education. I do believe if the country needs to strengthen, then the education system should also,” he said.

While supporting the need to raise concerns over education, Shah stressed that public protests should maintain limits in language and expression.

“The vocabulary used by a few people during the protest, no matter for whom — be it the Prime Minister or the LoP — we should avoid. The protest should be within limits. This generation is frustrated, and now it’s coming out,” he said, attributing part of the frustration to what he described as the influence of vulgar content in sections of the film industry and on social media.

He further stated that the prevailing social and political environment also contributes to the frustration among young people.

“This is not entirely the fault of Gen Z but also of the generations before them for the environment that has been created… If a rapist is acquitted, a murderer becomes a parliamentarian, it would obviously affect children because they are aware of these developments. Don’t create the hate. It is being created across party lines and the film industry,” he added.

The IIMUN conference will bring together young participants and prominent personalities for discussions on leadership, national development and the role of youth in shaping India’s future.