RSS meet condemns Jamp;K resolution

But the RSS seeks to absolve the BJP of the responsibility when it refers to the country8217;s Kashmir policy and NC8217;s decision on autonomy. It connects the present situation in the Kashmir valley, and the autonomy resolution by the Jamp;K Assembly, to the failure of the 1953 government to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution giving special status to Kashmir.

The Sangh executive meeting seems to have glossed over the recent statement by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee that the demand for autonomy by the National Conference government was not unconstitutional. Asked about this during a press conference on Sunday, RSS joint general secretary Madan Dass, said, 8220;Vajpayee8217;s statement does not lead to autonomy.8221;

Dass, who briefed the press on the resolutions of the National Executive, said the autonomy decision was a setback, but gave a muted response when asked if it did not shock the RSS that the unprecedented autonomy resolution came when a BJP-led Government was at the Centre. He only said, 8220;We hope that the resolution will not be implemented.8221;

He reiterated the same thing, when asked if the RSS believed that the National Conference government in Jamp;K should be sacked after this resolution, which the RSS itself believed, would encourage separatist demands in other parts of the country. Asked if the Sangh felt that the National Conference ministers in the Union Government should be removed, Madan Dass said, 8220;This does not come under the RSS purview.8221;

When asked about the stance of the RSS on the movement for separate statehood in Ladakh, when it criticises the NC government for its autonomy resolution, Madan Dass claimed, 8220;The movement in Ladakh is not for separate state or autonomy; the people want merger with the Indian Union and economic protection.8221; The national executive praised the 8220;people of Ladakh and Jammu8221; for their protest against the autonomy resolution.

The other resolution adopted by the Sangh executive refers to anti-Christian violence. It is not clear what it seeks to resolve, but the resolution condemns 8220;the mischievous attempts of a major section of Church leaders, backed by a section of the media,8221; in holding the RSS or its other constituents responsible for the atrocities on the Christians.

Dass says a 8220;crime should be treated as a crime, and the police should be allowed to carry out fair and free investigations without political or other interference.8221;

The resolution recalls that the Wadhwa Enquiry Report, the report of the National Commission for Minorities, the 8220;exposure of the falsity of the alleged rape of nuns by VHP workers in Jhabua and the concocted rape case of Baripada and the testimony of the officials in the recent Mathura murder betray the working of an anti-Hindu mindset.8221;

The resolution questions the Christian religious leadership for maintaining a 8220;stony silence8221; over the mysterious death of three nuns in the convents of Kottayam in Kerala, over which 8220;the public, including the Christian laity, is so much agitated.8221; The resolution exhorts Hindus and the RSS workers not to be agitated by 8220;this vicious propaganda8221; and asks them to remain alert when need arises to thwart such campaign.