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RSS reiterates opposition to insurance bill

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has strongly opposed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government's decision to open the insurance sector to foreign direct investment.

It indirectly cautioned the Centre not to take its support for granted when deviating from the Sangh Parivar's basic policies.

Briefing the media on the RSS Akhil Bharatiya Karyakaroa Mandal's four-day deliberation in Nagpur, joint general secretary K Sudarshan said his party, in a resolution on swadeshi, described the Centre's decision on opening the sector as "improper."

Sudarshan said the ABKM was equally critical of the decisions on hundred per cent FDI in cigarette production, and the ban on the sale of common salt.

The resolution said: ''It is well known that the RSS has always been in favour of swadeshi which connotes self-reliance and economic independence. Therefore, the ABKM regards as improper the Central government's decision to open the insurance sector for direct foreign investment .

It is also beyond the comprehension of the ABKM why 100 per cent FDI is allowed in the production of cigarettes which is likely to throw millions of labourers engaged in the bidi industry out of their livelihood and why iodised salt is being made compulsory which will make the common man pay more than four times the price of common salt.''

The ABKM felt the Centre, overwhelmed by constraints of immediacy, was ignoring the long-term implications of such policies.

"We are witnessing how some Asian countries, which had allowed unrestricted foreign capital, have had their economic structure shattered and are, consequently, trapped in continuous economic crises. Their experience should really be a lesson for us," the resolution said.

The ABKM implored the Centre not to open up the cigarette industry and to scrap the ban on the sale of common salt. "This would only mean that the government intends to honour the swadeshi mandate that it has received from the people of Bharat," its resolution added.

Sudarshan said the RSS would not like to be treated as an "appendage" of the BJP; it reserved the right to speak out openly against deviations from the Sangh Parivar's basic policies, whatever the government's compulsions.

Those at the much-publicised meeting included BJP president Khushabhau Thakre and general secretaries Venkaiah Naidu and Govindacharya, Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Giriraj Kishore, Bajrang Dal chief Jaibhan Singh Powayya and Swadeshi Jagran chief S Gurumurthy.

Sudarshan said the leaders did not discuss the BJP's poor performance in the recent assembly poll. The RSS considered such things "temporary" setbacks and concentrated on the implementation of its basic policies.

He scoffed at speculation that RSS chief Rajendra Singh was being forced out of office by a southern lobby. "We all are working under the leadership and guidance of Professor Singh," he said, "Whatever has appeared in the press against the RSS chief is mere speculation."

Answering a question, Sudarshan denied that Thakre, under threat from Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to resign, did a volte face on the opening up of the insurance sector.

Thakre was consistent in his view and felt that the BJP should have been taken into confidence by the government before taking such a vital decision, he said.

Sudarshan said the meeting, decided eight months ago, was a routine one, and had nothing to do with the recent happenings.

Asked about the relation between the RSS and BJP, he said that was as it had been decided during the life of the late RSS chief Guruji Golwalkar and Jan Sangh founder, the late Syamprasad Mukherjee.

The same line was being continued, and all the allied organisations of the Sangh Parivar functioned autonomously.

Sudarshan answered a reporter that the RSS was bonded to no political party and would welcome those supporting its ideology.

Asked about government's performance, the leader said it had taken some good decisions like that on the atomic tests and Cauvery issue. As for its minus points, that he would rather leave it to the media.

The RSS leader declined comment on Shiv Sena chief Balashaheb Thackeray's statement that the BJP suffered reverses in the assembly poll because it deviated from its Hindutva policy.

"You better ask Mr Thackeray about it," he said.

Sudarshan said the ABKM also passed a resolution deploring the efforts by a "sizeable section" of Christian missionaries to spread false information about the RSS and VHP, alleging that they persecuted the minority community.

This section had falsely linked Hindu activists to the Jhabua rapes and the burning of the Bible in Gujarat and Kerala.

The leader claimed that anti-Hindutva propaganda was part of a "deep global conspiracy" of Church missions to secure massive conversion of Hindus. He mentioned the 'Evangelisation 2000 and beyond' project in this connection.

UNI

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