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RSS chief asks Muslims to Indianise

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief K S Sudershan today asked Muslims in India to 'Indianise' and think in terms of the country first and then their religion.

"At present, there are different kinds of Islam practised in different countries. In Turkey, it is westernised Islam, in Iran it is Shia Islam, in Indonesia it is Indonesian Islam while in Afghanistan it is the Islam that thinks in terms of its past leaders," he said at a function the Delhi RSS organised to felicitate him on becoming the RSS chief.

"Indian Muslims too should change. They should not think that their kind of Islam will be accepted in other countries. Recently Saudi Arabia turned out 22,000 Bangaladeshi Muslims. Were they not Muslims too," he asked.

Coming down heavily on Pakistan, he said that country's existence was based on anti-India rhetoric. So Islamabad rejected whatever India did to normalise relations. Pakistan's rulers could not even appreciate the Lahore bus journey undertaken by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he said.

They (the Pakistanis) too will not accept Indian Muslims, as is evident from the condition of so-called Mohajirs in Karachi. They will not get the respect they get in India anywhere in the world, he said.

The RSS chief, who recently took over from Rajendra Singh, said it didn't matter whether somebody went to church or the mosque if thought in terms of the nation's welfare first.

He said that whenever the RSS talked about Hindu rashtra, "We say it openly and with full faith. We want that faith and strength to be developed in every Indian." But, at the same time, Hindus believed in spreading brotherhood, love, respect and tolerance for all. That is what makes a nation strong. We worship shakti (strength) and shalinta (tolerance) and that makes a nation great," he said.

Quoting Stalin who said that hatred made him successful, the RSS chief said that such people did not survive long.

"Look at communism. It is finished everywhere in the world. Even in China they are gradually moving towards capitalism. But if some [communists] survive in India, they too won't live long. It is like if a lizard is crushed; its tail still wags for some time. Communism in India is like that tail. It will wag for some time."

Coming down heavily on communists, he said the West Bengal deputy chief minister had criticised the RSS, but had forgotten his own party's background. These were the same people who had said during the 1962 Indo-China war that India had attacked China. They had even conspired with the British against India, he claimed.

The Sangh wanted the people to rise above narrow ideologies and think in terms of the nation as a whole, he said, asking members of the Parivar to spread that "oneness" among the people.

He said the Sangh had always believed that whatever the intentions, unless strength was provided to these, the intentions would not be realised. No nation had stood by the peaceful struggle of the Tibetans after the Chinese crackdown just because the Tibetans were not strong enough.

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