Keep RSS men out: Pranab seconds Arjun

Union Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee today indirectly endorsed Cabinet colleague Arjun Singh’s call to ‘‘cleanse’&#14...

Union Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee today indirectly endorsed Cabinet colleague Arjun Singh’s call to ‘‘cleanse’’ the administration of RSS men by stating that it was part of the Congress policy.

At an interaction with women journalists at the Indian Women’s Press Corps this evening, Mukherjee said: ‘‘I neither subscribe nor oppose’’ Arjun Singh’s demand. He went on to add: ‘‘So far as our party is concerned, we feel that the presence of any sectarian forces in the administration is pernicious to the secular fabric of the country.’’

Mukherjee’s comment is significant in the backdrop of efforts being made by the BJP-RSS to paint Singh as a ‘‘leftist’’ who is out to embarrass the Prime Minister by launching a vituperative attack on the RSS. BJP and RSS leaders have been voicing the view that the HRD Minister’s attacks on the RSS are part of an ‘‘intra-Congress’’ battle on the lines of the Arjun Singh versus Narasimha Rao one in the early 1990s, which led to Singh’s exit from the Rao-led Congress.

While Mukherjee did not associate himself directly with Arjun Singh’s anti-RSS remarks, he also made it clear that the party was united on the larger question of ideologically taking on the RSS.

'India expects Riyadh to keep mutual interests in mind': MEA on Saudi-Pakistan defence pact

‘India expects Riyadh to keep mutual interests in mind’: MEA on Saudi-Pak defence pact

India59 min ago

India on Friday said that it expects Saudi Arabia to keep in mind "mutual interests and sensitivities" in the wake of Riyadh sealing a strategic defence pact with Pakistan. The agreement states that "any aggression against either of the two countries shall be considered as an aggression against both".

View all shorts

Live Blog