By IANS,
Lucknow : The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) Sunday hit out at the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, saying it was branding Hindus as terrorists to veil its “complete failure to combat rampant terrorism” and with an eye to the upcoming general elections.
“As elections are round the corner, the government has floated the term ‘Hindu terrorism’ to gain political mileage,” RSS chief K.S. Sudershan told reporters here Sunday after addressing a gathering of the outfit.
“There is nothing like Hindu terrorism. In fact, terrorism cannot be associated with any religion like Hindu, Muslim or Christian. It is disgraceful that the government is linking terrorism with religion,” he added.
Sudershan is in the city to participate in a five-day annual meet of the RSS’ Awadh region unit, which started Nov 21. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal are also participating.
Sources said the RSS chief is likely to “activate” the Hindu outfits and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
On Monday, Sudershan is expected to meet members of Bajrang Dal and VHP, while a “co-ordination meeting” of officer-bearers of the RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal and leaders of BJP would take place Tuesday.
Sources said the RSS chief might issue certain directives to BJP leaders with the elections in mind.
Members of RSS from four regions – Awadh, Kashi, Gorakhpur and Kanpur – would participate in the co-ordination meeting.
Addressing an RSS gathering, Sudershan accused the Congress-led central government of heading the country towards an economic crisis.
“It is only due to the wrong policies of the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, and the union finance minister, P. Chidambaram, that India is witnessing ‘stagflation’ – economic recession in which production has not only dropped but has come to a standstill.”
“It happened because we tried to follow the economic policy of the US that is centralised, high-energy consumptive, capital intensive, labour displacing and eco-destructive,” reasoned Sudershan.
The RSS chief also criticised the country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru for “ignoring villages” while drafting developmental plans for India.
“Had the developmental projects been village-centric, the picture would have been altogether different.”
“Taking into account the economic recession, it is high time villages are made development centres of the country,” he suggested.
Referring to the campaigns and protests pertaining to the Amarnath Shrine Board land allotment row, Sudershan said: “It was a Hindu upsurge against the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).”
Terming the PDP as pro-Pakistan, Sudershan said the party “tried all means to fail the campaign. However, Hindus, including men, women and children all united for a cause and successfully fought for the rights.”