First time,RSS slams Varun hate speech

RSS ideologue M G Vaidya has now joined the growing voices in the BJP against Varun Gandhis inflammatory speeches since the poll defeat.

RSS ideologue M G Vaidya has now joined the growing voices in the BJP against Varun Gandhi8217;s inflammatory speeches since the poll defeat,calling them against the basic tenets of Hindutva. Becoming the first RSS leader to come out in the open against Varun for his alleged anti-Muslim speeches,which many believe consolidated the Muslim vote against the party,Vaidya told The 8216;Indian Express8217;: 8220;Chopping off hands or any such thing is not acceptable to us. This is not Hindutva.8221;

While RSS general secretary Bhaiyyaji Joshi had earlier defended Varuns remarks,and the Sangh journal too had written editorials backing him,Vaidya said: If he ever came to me,I would first ask him if he actually said so. The ideology of Hindutva is often misrepresented and misunderstood8230; Hindutva is about plurality of thought,and plurality of faith.

However,he added: Varun has also said that the statements attributed to him were never actually made in the first place.

RSS general secretary Joshi had earlier told Organiser in the first week of April: What Varun said is due to circumstances that have developed in the country today. The issue he raised should be taken seriously. The language he used may be improper,but his feelings are genuine. It has to be seen in the context of the situation prevailing there.

In a column in the recent edition of Marathi daily Tarun Bharat,Vaidya had taken a dig at the BJP,arguing that the BJP should give up Hindutva to attract its erstwhile allies. Asked how he would reconcile the two views,he said: The very idea of Hindutva is often misunderstood and misrepresented. It treats other faiths as equally valid.

The RSS ideologue also said that the likes of the Ram Sene that earned notoriety after it attacked pubs in Mangalore and Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur said to have a hand in the Malegaon blasts didnt represent Hindutva in the true sense. We might have problems with drinking or going to pubs but we would never resort to violence to stop them from visiting them. We would try to persuade them to have a change of heart, he said.

Asked on the factions in the RSS,wherein individual leaders were now aligned to individual leaders in the BJP,Vaidya said: There are no multiple views in the Sangh,and we speak in one voice. We have however no problems if others read the BJP refuse to come along.

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He refused to say anything on the internal strife in the BJP.