RSS justifies chief’s statement on PM candidate (Lead, superseding previous story) - India Talks
New Delhi/Nagpur, June 20: Justifying the RSS chief’s statement that the country should have a prime minister who propounded Hindutva, the organisation’s spokesman Wednesday said the views should not be linked to “day-to-day political happenings”.
“We always held that Hindutva, the ideological anchor of the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) is a liberal, all-embracing and secular idea,” spokesman Ram Madhav told reporters in New Delhi.
“To portray it as anti-secular or narrow-minded is not correct. Hindutva in reality is a true synonym for secularism,” the RSS spokesman maintained.
“This is our ideological position which we have been articulating from time immemorial and the chief of RSS (Mohan Bhagwat) has only reiterated that position,” Madhav said.
“It is totally, utterly uncalled for to link the views expressed before the swayamsevaks to day-to-day political happenings in the country, to individuals or leaders. This is uncalled for and not appropriate,” he said.
Earlier in the day, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had told cadres in Nagpur: “To keep alive the Hindutva ideology, the Hindu ‘samaaj’ (society) should come together. And the country should have a prime minister who believes in that ideology or propounds that view.”
Bhagwat’s comments come a day after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said the Bharatiya Janata Party-led opposition National Democratic Alliance should announce a secular prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Bhagwat had hit out at Nitish Kumar too, saying he was scared to call himself a Hindu and questioned his right to decide what sort of person would make a good prime minister.
IANS
RSS backs Narendra Modi as prime ministerial candidate - Daily Pioneer
"To keep alive the Hindutva ideology, the Hindu 'samaaj' (society) should come together. And the country should have a prime minister who believes in that ideology or propounds that view," Bhagwat told reporters here.
Bhagwat's comments came a day after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar hit out at Narendra Modi without naming him and said that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, should announce a secular prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Nitish Kumar Tuesday made it clear that Modi is unacceptable as an NDA candidate for prime ministership.
"Will Nitish decide what sort of person makes a good PM?" Bhagwat questioned.
He also slammed Nitish Kumar and said that he is scared to call himself a Hindu.
The Nitish-Modi rivalry has been on a high for the past few days. Modi took a dig at politicians from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for what the Gujarat chief minister called "resort to caste-based politics".
Nitish Kumar then said that Modi, who has been a constant irritant in the JD(U)-BJP coalition ties in Bihar, should mind his own business instead of making comments on others.
RSS’s unsecular disservice to NaMo - Hindustan Times
I admire Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi — forget the economic parameters of the state, you just need to go out at 1 am in the morning in Baroda to see and experience the huge number of women and men walking on the roads, free from any threat, real or imagined. That state, when you know that the chances of your being assaulted at that time are close to zero, is to my mind the epitome of security, the first dharma of governance. This sense of security has attracted carmakers like Tata and Ford to Gujarat, a feat that Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is only beginning to aspire for.
So, as part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), when Kumar said that the “leader of the coalition should have secular credentials and a liberal frame of mind”, Modi followers seem to have taken it as an attack on Modi’s perceived non-secular credentials, following his abysmal and shameful mis-governance during the riots at Godhra in February 2002. I see nothing wrong with what Kumar has said. Of course, not only the leader of any political alliance that aspires to govern India, but any citizen of India must be secular. What else can s/he be — a Hindu, a Muslim, a Sikh and so on?
The RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) feels otherwise. “To keep alive the Hindutva ideology, the Hindu ‘samaaj’ (society) should come together,” RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat told reporters today. “And the country should have a prime minister who believes in that ideology or propounds that view.” Nothing could be more dangerous or more divisive for India than such an ideology. Were Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Rajiv Gandhi ‘Hindu’ prime ministers? Is Manmohan Singh a ‘Sikh’ prime minister? Thank whichever god you believe in that that is not the case — irrespective of personal faith, India is yet to see a single prime minister who is as rabid about his religion as many in Islamic nations are about theirs.
As we all know, in the path shown by Vinayak Damodar (Veer) Savarkar, for RSS, you can’t be an Indian without being a Hindu. Lace that thought with a political agenda and the foregone conclusion is the creation of a Hindu nation. “For the RSS, Indian identity is the same as Hindu identity, and all members of religious minorities — mostly Muslims and Christians — should pay allegiance to the dominant religious community, at least in the public space,” writes Ingrid Therwath, head of the International Relations department at the Delhi-based Centre de Sciences Humaines, in Cyber-Hindutva: Hindu nationalism, the diaspora and the Web, a recent report I wrote about last week.
Do Indian Hindus want India to be a Hindu state? The rising tide of angry cyber-Hindus aside, most Hindus I know are very happy and secure being secular. While the word signifies a religion-indifferent nation, angry Hindus believe secularism has meant that followers of the world’s oldest religion have lost out, that the word ‘secular’ is really pseudo-secularism, that Hindus are being victimised in “their own home”. This false notion needs to end, but like all who revel in the glory of persecution complex, this is not going to happen soon.
At another level, if it is political change that is being sought — as Bhagwat’s statement suggests — they will have to walk the arduous road towards that regressive state. It is no longer a fringe that can define or change this. Secularism is now a Constitutional provision, through the 42nd amendment in 1976. To change this, the majority in Lok Sabha must belong to those who believe in the Hindu Rashtra theory. With the grace of all gods — Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist and many more — that is not going to happen soon.
But in the interim, Bhagwat has done a terrible disservice to Modi by strengthening the impression that Modi stands for a Hindu identity, that if he becomes India’s prime minister he will push for the Hindutva notion of our nation. Modi will have to come clean on this himself. If he, as the prime ministerial candidate, walks towards a Hindu Rashtra, the alienation of BJP is destined. And unfortunately, the freedoms enjoyed by the citizens of Gujarat will not be available to the rest of us.
RSS justifies chief’s statement on prime ministerial candidate (Lead) - Thaindian.com
“We always held that Hindutva, the ideological anchor of the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) is a liberal, all-embracing and secular idea,” Ram Madhav told reporters here.
“To portray it as anti-secular or narrow-minded is not correct. Hindutva in reality is a true synonym for secularism,” the RSS spokesman maintained.
“This is our ideological position which we have been articulating from time immemorial and the chief of RSS (Mohan Bhagwat) has only reiterated that position,” Madhav said.
“It is totally, utterly uncalled for to link the views expressed before the swayamsevaks to day-to-day political happenings in the country, to individuals or leaders. This is uncalled for and not appropriate,” he said.
Earlier in the day, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had told reporters: “To keep alive the Hindutva ideology, the Hindu ’samaaj’ (society) should come together. And the country should have a prime minister who believes in that ideology or propounds that view.”
Bhagwat’s comments come a day after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said the Bharatiya Janata Party-led opposition National Democratic Alliance should announce a secular prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Bhagwat had hit out at Kumar too, saying he was scared to call himself a Hindu and questioned his right to decide what sort of person would make a good prime minister.
RSS rallies behind Modi - Asian Age
The secularism-Hindutva battle intensified Wednesday with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat rallying behind Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, saying the country needed a “Hindu” leader.
Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar had decided to take on Mr Modi when the Bharatiya Janata Party, at its Mumbai national executive, wanted to name Mr Modi chairman of its campaign and selection committee. This would have been a clear signal that the party wanted to project Mr Modi as its prime ministerial candidate for 2014.
Mr Nitish Kumar, who has to cater to Bihar’s Muslim votebank, made it clear the NDA needed a secular face, sources said. However, despite the war of words, sources said Mr Kumar had “assured the BJP leadership he will not quit the NDA”.
A BJP leader claimed the move to pick Mr Modi as head of the BJP campaign and selection committee was also “conveyed to Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik and Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa”, It was said if the BJP managed to get 200 seats in the 2014 general election on its own, the party will project Mr Modi as Prime Minister. “Naveen Patnaik and Jayalalithaa had no issues, but Nitish needs to cater to the Muslim votebank in Bihar”, the BJP leader added.
Some BJP leaders were apparently taken unawares by the RSS chief’s anti-Nitish remarks. There were whispers in saffron circles that the RSS chief and others like Balbir Punj should have been restrained in attacking Mr Kumar.
RSS snubs Nitish Kumar over 'secular PM' remark - Hindustan Times
The RSS chief’s assertion that the next PM should be a Hindutva proponent comes at a time when the NDA is battling dissension over whom to back for president. Key alliance partner Shiv Sena has already jumped the gun by coming out in support of UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee.
While the JD(U)'s stand against Modi is a challenge to the RSS adherence to Hindutva - making Kumar's statements unpalatable to the hardline saffron constituency - the Bihar CM sees overt criticism of Modi as part of a careful projection of himself as a pro-minority leader and the only "secular" face in the NDA. The question is how the alliance will handle such political complexities.
"What is the harm in having a pro-Hindutva Prime Minister? It is none of his (Kumar's) business to decide who is secular or not," Bhagwat told RSS volunteers in Latur, Maharashtra.
RSS leader Ram Madhav explained: "Hindutva is the true synonym for secularism. It is a secular, liberal and all-embracing idea." The RSS chief's remark, however, came as a shot in the arm for Modi.
At a time when the BJP has many prime ministerial hopefuls, Bhagwat's remark strengthens Modi's standing by making Hindutva its crucial qualification for a PM candidate. However, Sangh insiders hinted that BJP chief, Nitin Gadkari is high on the RSS's list of PM candidates, with sections of the organisation wary of Modi's dictatorial ways.
JD(U) leader Shivanand Tiwari rushed to Kumar's defence, saying those in the BJP who want the party to return to power should realise that projecting a "fanatic face" wouldn't work. He claimed that the NDA lost the 2004 elections because of the Gujarat riots two years earlier.
While the BJP did not hold an official press briefing, its Gujarat in-charge Balbir Punj said, "None in this country has the right to issue fatwas as to who is secular or not."
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