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Subject: [India Thinkers Net] RSS saffron has many colours - November18, 2003





RSS saffron has many colours: one for Dalit Bangaru,
another for Judeo  
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=35571
MANINI CHATTERJEE          

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 17: When the BJP??™s first Dalit
president Bangaru Laxman was caught on tape accepting
Rs 1 lakh in cash, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
(RSS) was quick to condemn him the same evening as a
??????failed swayamsevak.??™??™ But in the case of Dilip Singh
Judeo, the Sangh is doing just the opposite. Leave
alone condemn him, the RSS has leapt to the defence of
the Thakur ??????Raja??™??™ because he??”along with Narendra
Modi??”is among Hindutva??™s greatest heroes within the
ranks of the BJP.

 

Even after Judeo resigned under pressure today
(following the PM??™s remark last night that ??????if he is
guilty, he will have to go??™??™), the RSS was set on
portraying him a ??????victim??™??™ of ??????a Christian
conspiracy.??™??™ RSS chief K.S. Sudhershan is out of
Delhi but is being kept ??????fully informed??™??™ of the
developments, and the RSS top brass is taking a keen
interest in the ??????investigation??™??™ into the
??????conspiracy,??™??™ sources said.

When contacted, RSS spokesman Ram Madhav said, ??????The
Prime Minister has said that investigations will take
place and truth will come out. We support his stand
and have a gut feeling it is a high-tech conspiracy
hatched by the missionary sections who are running the
state by proxy to defame not just the BJP but the
larger cause for which Judeo has been fighting for
long.??™??™

While the BJP has charged the Congress party with
??????doctoring??™??™ the tape in order to gain electoral
mileage on the eve of Chhattisgarh??™s first Assembly
election, the RSS is backing Judeo??™s claim of it being
a missionary conspiracy.

Judeo has long been a darling of the RSS for his
fervent championing of the ??????Hindu cause??™??™ through his
ghar vapasi (reconversion) programme among tribals.
Judeo??™s family gave large tracts of land to the RSS
outfit, Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (VKA) which works among
tribals to counter the social welfare activities of
Christian missionaries.

Although there is considerable opposition to Judeo
within the state unit of the BJP because of his
autocratic and whimsical ways, the central leadership
was seen to be tacitly backing him. And though he was
not contesting the assembly elections, he remained one
of the principal contendors for the post of chief
minister in the case of a BJP win.

The main reason for this, a BJP leader said, was the
support he received from the RSS. The usually
puritanical RSS has always chosen to overlook Judeo??™s
rather colourful lifestyle and Bollywood-style
histrionics because of his anti-Christian missionaries
stance. The Sangh was backing Judeo??™s candidature
because, as one RSS member put it, ??????if Judeo becomes
chief minister, it will be the end of missonary
activity in Chhattisgarh.??™??™

The RSS, he added, saw the Chhattisgarh election less
as an electoral battle than one ??????between Christian
missionaries and pro-Hindu sections??? in which Ajit
Jogi was a ???missionary frontman??? and Judeo the
protector of ???Hindutva.???

Following Judeo??™s resignation, the BJP has decided to
go on the offensive and demand Jogi??™s resignation as
well. The BJP, though, is deeply embarrassed by the
circumstances in which Judeo was forced to quit.

The RSS, on the other hand, sees the development as an
opportunity to bring back the ??????conversion of
tribals??™??™ angle into the election campaign. Much to
the RSS??™s disappointment, issues of development and
governance overshadowed the Hindutva agenda in the
run-up to the elections in all four north Indian
states going to polls next fortnight. By harping on
the ??????Christian cospiracy??™??™ angle, they hope that
emotive issues will take over at least in the
Chhattisgarh campaign.

 


 


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