M A I N   N E W S

RSS chief asks govt to abrogate Art 370
Flays policy on FDI, disinvestment

NEW DELHI, July 7 (PTI) — Amidst raging controversy over the issue of autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir, RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan has asked the government to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution which gives a special status to it and impose President’s rule in the state.

“We believe it is time the mistake of not scrapping this Article is rectified,” Sudarshan told Zee TV in an interview to be telecast on Sunday.

“The Article was inserted in the Constitution to please Sheikh Abdullah and he misused this autonomy and even worked for the separation of Jammu and Kashmir from India. He even faced the charge of treason and his wife was at the centre of the whole thing,” he said, according to the transcript of the interview made available by the TV network.

“Vahan Rashtrapati shashan lagoo hona chahiye aur 370 ko nirast kiya jana chahiye” (the Centre should impose President’s rule in J&K and scrap Article 370), he said.

Mr Sudarshan said the mistake that the Centre had made in not scrapping Article 370 so far should be rectified.

On the contentious issue of the construction of Ram Temple at Ayodhya, Mr Sudarshan said this could be done only in three ways.

“Either the government should hand over the disputed site to the Ram Janmabhoomi Trust... Which seems impossible or some legislative provision be made, but with cases dragging in courts it also does not seem likely,” he said.

The only other option was that Muslims relinquish claim to the place, Mr Sudarshan said.

The RSS chief said it would be easier to convince the Muslim leadership that there was no mosque on the site and that such a piece of land was not acceptable for a Muslim place of worship under Islam.

This way the issue could be sorted out, he said and asserted that “Ram Janmabhoomi mandir to banega. Use koi rok nahin sakta.” (Ram Mandir will be constructed. No one can stop it.)

Asked about attacks on Christians and allegations against some Hindu organisations in this regard, Mr Sudarshan said this was designed to defame his organisation.

Hitting out at the Congress for spreading the disinformation, he said just as a blast takes place in a church, the Congress takes out a protest procession. “This is part of a well-phrased conspiracy to defame Sangh.” He added. 

The RSS chief attacked the liberalised policy for foreign direct investment (FDI) and disinvestment in the PSUs saying that economic policies were not beneficial in any respect.

“Jo batein theek nahin lagegi, uski baat spasht roop say logon ke samne rakheinge... Yeh jo arthik neeti hai, yeh kisi bhi roop say labhdayak nahin hai” (whatever we find unacceptable in Vajpayee government’s policy, we will take to the people. The economic policy is not beneficial in any respect), he said during the an interview.

Asked whether the government was taking RSS’ views into consideration for its economic policies, he said the issue was not whether government was listening to the RSS or not.

If it felt that certain policies were not correct, the RSS would take these issues to people, he said.

It may be recalled that the BJP had said late last month that it would soon come out with a status paper on government’s economic policies to educate its own cadre and the Sangh Parivar and remove their misgivings.

Criticising 100 per cent FDI in E-commerce, cleared by the Union Cabinet last month, he said he had requested the government to withdraw it as it was tantamount to selling the nation.

“B2B (business to business) mein jo 100 pratishat videshi poonji aaney ka nirnay sarkar ne kiya, yeh poori tarah ghatak hai. Swadeshi Jagran Manch ne ise poori tarah kharij kiya hai ki yeh desh ko bechne jaise ghatna hai aur aagrah kiya hai ki sarkar is par punarvichar kare aur vapas le,” the RSS chief said.

(The decision to get 100 per cent foreign capital in B2B segments is dangerous. The SJM has rejected it and said it amounts to selling the nation and demanded its withdrawal.)

Asked about disinvestment of government equity in the PSUs, the RSS chief Mr Sudarshan said privatisation was no big deal in itself but cautioned that “we should not hand it over to foreigners in a bid to privatise. This is wrong.”