M A I N   N E W S

RSS chief puts govt on notice

NAGPUR, March 11 (PTI) — The new RSS chief, Mr K.S. Sudarshan, today put the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre on notice on economic reforms, saying that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee should bring in economic advisers who believed in the “swadeshi” concept.

At his first press conference a day after he was appointed the organisational chief, Mr Sudarshan claimed that despite pressure from allies, the Vajpayee government was in favour of construction of Ram Temple at Ayodhya, but the pending litigation in the high court had stalled it.

Mr Sudarshan, considered a hardliner, especially against rapid economic reforms, said a round-table conference of all groups concerned should be held to formulate policies on emerging globalisation.

“Mr Vajpayee should induct in his advisory team economists with a new thinking such as those who believed in the Gandhian philosophy,” he said.

Mr Sudarshan, one of the leading think-tanks in the organisation, said the RSS believed in swadeshi concept that did not necessarily mean accepting only domestic goods.

Swadeshi implied that the nation had to keep its own interests in mind and rely less on western nations for economic growth.

On the political front, the organisation demanded a legislation for a ban on cow slaughter and the return of converts to the Hindu fold.

Mr Sudarshan said that the present mess on the economic front and the onslaught of globalisation were the fallout of decisions of these advisers, who were carrying out polices adopted by the earlier government.

According to him, noted economist Bharat Jhunjhunwala and other Gandhian economists should be included in the panel of economic advisers of the Vajpayee government. “They can change the entire economic outlook of the country and come out with a swadeshi concept to benefit common people,” he felt.

Mr Sudarshan urged the government to evolve a mechanism to involve this vast segment in policy making and protect their interests.

He said the Indian Constitution should be scraped and replaced with a new one as it was primarily based on the British-enacted 1935 Act made to serve the interests of the then rulers. Due to the situation prevailing at the time of Constitution-making, a constitution taking Indian ethos and aspirations into account could not be made. The RSS wanted a totally new Constitution, he added.