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Sudarshan shows a soft spot for Vajpayee

Twenty-four hours after taking over as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief, Kuppahalli Seetaramaiyya Sudarshan struck a soft note with the Bharatiya Janata Party, saying that as it is part of a coalition, it has its limitations which the RSS understood.

In the past, Sudarshan has publicly criticised some of the policies followed by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance government in which the BJP is the largest party.

Since the BJP is an affiliate, many within the RSS are of the view that it must implement the agenda of the RSS. Sudarshan too had criticised the policies followed by the BJP.

However, today he was at pains to point out that Vajpayee had limitations as he is heading a coalition government of 24 parties. "We realise that this government has three limitations," he said.

Enumerating, Sudarshan said the first was caused by its alliance partners who do not necessarily share the same views on a range of topics. "Except for an agreement on a few issues, the allies have a different view on other issues and thus the BJP cannot force them upon the others," he said.

The second point, he said, was that the previous government had signed certain international agreements which bound this government. "For instance, it was the previous governments that had signed agreements leading up to the World Trade Organisation and the present government does not have a complete free hand," he said.

The third limitation was the bad advice from certain senior bureaucrats and advisors to the government. "The advisors are still bound by the old rules which saw the economy in a particular way. They are not adapted to the new way of thinking, nor do they see merit in the new economic necessities, and are thus misguiding the government," said the new RSS sarsanghachalak.

Speaking about the Ram Janmabhoomi temple, Sudarshan said that preparations were underway and the structures to build a temple up to the first floor were already ready.

"It is just a question of starting the actual building work and since the land is in dispute, we cannot do that," he said.

He said the matter was being adjudicated by the high court and till such time as the judgment was delivered, the RSS could do little.

Asked what would be the RSS position should the judgment go against it, he retorted that since this was a religious matter, the dharmacharya sansad [the religious teachers' parliament] would decide on it. Sudarshan refused to give a timeframe for building the temple.

Coincidentally, while speaking to the media Friday, Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Ashok Singhal too had refused to give a deadline for starting the construction work at Ayodhya. The VHP is leading the movement to build the Ram Janmabhoomi temple.

Asked to comment on Singhal's statement that Hindus are cowards, made in the wake of the Indian Airlines hijacking, Sudarshan replied:

"What we are saying is that since there were only five hijackers and 150 passengers, surely the passengers could have done something. After all, of the five, one would sleep and one was in the cockpit, so it was only a question of overpowering three men."

Sudarshan also blamed the bureaucrats for their role in the hijacking, saying that they were solely responsible for allowing the ill-fated aircraft to leave Amritsar and later Dubai airports. He refused to blame the political leadership.

"Why blame the prime minister, he alone is not responsible for everything. It is the bureaucrats who bungled," he said.

But he insisted that Hindus are not cowards. "Hindus are brave people. Our history is full of brave men, but we Hindus are brave individually, not collectively. It is the RSS's wish to unite the Hindus so that they can work collectively," he added.

He said that one sign of the Hindus' growing bravery was that they had now started calling themselves Hindus.

On economic issues, Sudarshan struck a discordant note. He said that the world was going through major changes, and whose final product was still to manifest itself.

"These changes have destroyed communism and in 10 years, it will destroy capitalism. Thus the only way is the Hindutva way which takes a holistic approach to problems unlike the western systems that prefer a piecemeal approach," he declared.

In a philosophic mode during the press briefing, Sudarshan said that the present era, which began with the discoveries of Newton and Descartes, was slowly coming to an end.

"This was the era when science reigned supreme, when rationalisation was to provide every answer. Now even science realises that it is not an end in itself but means to an end, that every particle is connected to another particle. This is close to the Hindu view which believes that just as the tree contains the seed, the seed contains the tree!" he said.

He declared that the new age will reflect Hindutva thinking -- Hindu and Buddhist thought -- but to actually achieve that goal, the RSS will have to work towards that end.

Sudarshan agreed that he was a proponent of swadeshi (national) economics and said that the RSS and other like-minded persons would work towards that end.

"Not all the swadeshi supporters are RSS people," he pointed out, naming Bharat Jhunjhunwala and the Gandhians as examples.

"If Nehru had heeded Mahatma Gandhi's call to follow agriculture-based economics, then today India would not be having 550 million poor people 50 years after Independence," he claimed.

The RSS sarsanghchalak flayed the World Trade Organisation, saying it was a device of the rich countries to further their interests. He quoted Rabindranath Tagore who had said that each country is unique and must find its own policies.

"In the US, only one per cent of the population is involved in agriculture whereas in India, 75 per cent earn their bread from agriculture. How can the WTO suit the interests of both countries?" he asked.

Sudarshan pointed out that even the outgoing WTO director general had in a report stated that despite liberalisation, the rich countries had grown richer and the poor, poorer.

"The way out is for the poor countries to get together and build common policies and in this India must take the lead," he felt.

The RSS congratulated the government for not succumbing to western pressure at the WTO's Seattle meeting.

The RSS chief blasted Pope John Paul for calling on the Church to convert Asia. "It is a proven fact, and which the Church has even acknowledged, that once people convert to another religion, they become anti-nationalistic and go against the local culture. The examples are the Nagas in India, the Karens in Myanmar, and the recent example of East Timor which broke away from Indonesia. All are Christians who broke away from," he said.

A statement released by the RSS also said the people of Asia in general and people in India in particular must beware of the Church's activities. It urged Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh bodies to come together to fight 'this menace of conversions'.

The statement also urged organisations of the aforementioned religions to help uplift the poorer sections of society who were being targeted by missionaries.

Sudarshan said by coming to India and calling for conversions, the Pope had abused India's hospitality.

The new RSS sarsanghachalak reiterated his predecessor's statement that the Gujarat order would have no impact on the RSS. He added that he was not disappointed by the fact that the government was forced to rescind its order that was to allow state government employees from joining the RSS.

He pointed out that while Jyoti Basu was against government employees joining the RSS, it welcomed them to the communist party.

"It is nothing but political exploitation and double standards of some political parties," he said.

Giving an example, he said that it had been discovered that in West Bengal, on paper 1,200 school teachers were being paid salaries but in reality, there was no school and they were only communist party workers drawing government wages.

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