NATIONAL POLITICS

BJP: Sangh Parivar's Appeal to Voters to Defeat Anti-Hindutva Forces

The country's unity, integrity, sovereignty and security are beset with dangers from all sides. Pakistan's ISI has spread its tentacles far and wide and is building up caches of arms ad ammunition at various places in the country in a big way. This has led to bomb blasts at several places. Insurgency is raging throughout the Kashmir Valley and approximately three hundred thousand Hindus (have been) chased out of the Valley.

Since a majority of the Muslim masses continue to be in the stranglehold of extremist mullah-moulvis they hardly accept any restriction for population control. As a result, in India the population of Muslims as compared to that of Hindus is increasing 8% faster. Again, infiltration by Bangladeshi Muslims continues unabated. A number of border districts have since become Muslim-majority areas which, incidentally, have turned into smuggling dens for illegal arms and narcotics.

The Christian Church rooted in foreign lands has been expanding its evangelizing activities. The Church from beyond the seven seas has made India its special target. In pursuance of the same policy the Christian institutions are agitating to wangle the facilities of reservation meant for the scheduled castes for the Dalits who are converted to Christianity. It will cut into the quota meant for the scheduled castes belonging to the Hindu society and will increase conversion among them. The country's worrisome condition is the result of India's politics being divorced from the pure indigenous Hindu nation. For 2500 years the word Hindu has been used to describe this people's nationality. Every person who regards this land as his mother, its herges as his ancestors and this culture based on unity in diversity as his own is a Hindu, a national of this land irrespective of his mode of worship. Recently the Supreme Court has once again accepted Hindutva as a liberal, all- assimilative way of life. The nationalist people of this land failed to be fully conscious of their right to vote in a democracy. As a result, they had to bear the cross of an anti-Hindutva political leadership.

The coming election is going to be a test of to extent our countrymen have grown vigilant and enlightened with the right appreciation of Hindutva. We, therefore, appeal to you with great feeling that you too should contribute your time and mite to the fullest in this popular awakening which actually is God's work, so that our politics eclipsed by anti-Hindutva thinking can come out and shine forth.

The hopes and aspirations of countless heroic men and women and martyrs who made all kinds of sacrifices, performed brave deeds and laid down their lives for RSS to the fore?

Editorial, The Hindustan Times, 11 March, 1996

Freed of any inhibition in the espousal of its basic tenet, thanks to the Supreme Court verdict that it is not communal, the RSS has chosen to combine cultural nationalism with national security as the main plank to aid the BJP's prospects. The Pratinidhi Sabha appealed to "Hindus in general and Hindutva workers in particular" to mobilize support only for those parties and persons ready to fight the perils confronting the nation drawing inspiration from their belief in the cultural content of Hindutva. Though the BJP was not mentioned by name, the exhortation to work for a state for "our Hindu society embracing all sections" made it clear which party qualified as a repository of patriotic values. The appeal formed an integral part of the RSS annual report presented by General Secretary H.V. Seshadri.

The shift of the venue of the meeting from Nagpur to Lucknow underlines the stakes for the BJP in the State. It is meant to shore up the upper caste support base of the BJP, which may have suffered some erosion because of the advocacy of the backward caste interests as a fallout of the Mandalisation of UP politics. The presence of the representatives of all front organizations, including the VHP, the HMS and ABVP. suggests the resolve of the RSS to deploy its massive manpower to make an all-out bid to spur the BJP's march to Delhi.

How far the active canvassing of the RSS, which has chosen to shed openly the garb of a cultural organization", will help the BJP in retaining the support of uncommitted and liberalvoters, who turned to it out of disgust with the Congress brand of politics, is a moot point.

India's freedom, have not yet been realized. Let us all come forward to fulfil their unfinished mission and perform so brilliantly in the coming elections that we may have the privilege of witnessing the dawn of national resurgence.

Rajendra Singh,                               V.H. Dalmia,

Sarsanghchalak, RSS                      President, VHP

Usha Chati,                                     Jagdevram,

Pramukh Sanchalika,                       President, A.B. Vanvasi

Rashtra Sevika Samiti                      Kalyan Ashram

If Mother Teresa really wants to serve humanity she should stop converting Hindus to Christianity.

- Nischalananda Saraswati Maharaj.

Shankaracharya of Puri