RSS against appeasement of any community — Vaidya

On Laxman’s call to partymen to reach out to Muslims, he said, "It is evident from the BJP president’s address at the national council of the party at Nagpur that they are set on contacting, communicating and educating the Muslims on their point of view and not appeasing them."

There was a sizeable percentage of Muslim population favouring BJP, he added.

Replying to a query as to how far the BJP would succeed in building a Muslim vote bank, Vaidya said it was that party’s calculation and assessment. "The party will have to take care of profit and loss account," he said.

The RSS was in favour of trifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir as it could help contain violence in the Valley, Vaidya said.

"Most of the problems will be solved by creating a new state of Jammu and giving Union territory status to Ladakh," the former editor of a Marathi daily said.

"Development of Jammu and Ladakh will be accelerated and I understand these two regions do not require special status by Article 370 of the Constitution," he said.

On the issue of autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir, he said only elected representatives of the Valley were demanding more autonomy within the framework of the Indian Constituion.

"RSS is in favour of holding discussions with them about the quantum of autonomy they desire," Vaidya said, adding that it would not be proper to impose autonomy on these two regions which do not want it.

"If the people of Jammu want to remain with the Valley, it is okay and if not, let them pass a resolution for creating a state of Jammu," he said.

The BJP was keen to discuss the autonomy issue but the NDA allies were probably not in its favour and hence the proposal was rejected, Vaidya claimed.

"If they want to reconsider the issue, they will have to restrict it to the Valley only. Nobody will like going back to the pre-1953 situation. Even the Congress will not agree since it was under the obligation of Indira Gandhi-Sheikh Abdullah accord of 1975," he observed.

The veteran RSS leader was critical of the foreign direct investment policy of the government. "Unrestricted flow of foreign direct investment is not proper and we do not think it will be in the ultimate interest of the country," Vaidya said.