The Hindu : RSS denies allegations

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 28, 2004

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RSS denies allegations

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, FEB. 27 . The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh today rejected all allegations of misuse of about £2 million (about Rs. 15 crores) it had collected in Britain for relief work in Gujarat following the devastating earthquake in Bhuj three years ago.

Rejecting as "false and wild" the report of Awaaz: South Asia Watch, which was recently released in Britain, and reported in the Indian press, the RSS spokesperson, Ram Madhav, said that in fact the Sewa International, an RSS affiliate, had used the money to reconstruct two villages in quake-hit Saurashtra. Four other villages were re-built with some of the money coming from the Sewa International and eight others with funds from Sewa Bharati and contributions other than the money collected abroad.

Mr. Madhav said the Awaaz report was "scandalous" and the RSS could consider taking legal action. "It seems to be part of a sinister conspiracy," he said, questioning the locus standi of Awaaz. The Sewa Bharati was a registered organisation in several States, including Gujarat. "We get funds from abroad as we are registered with the Fund Contributions Regulatory Act," which controlled donations from abroad.

Conceding that the RSS had many a time protested against foreign funding of educational institutions run by Christian missionaries, Mr. Madhav said "it was because we protested against misuse of those funds for religious conversion related activities." He denied that Sewa Bharati or Sewa International funds had been used to promote sectarian violence in tribal areas where these organisations had opened schools.

Mr. Madhav strongly criticised a U.S. State Department report on human rights which had described Indian democracy as "flawed" and alleged that the Government run by the BJP was not providing security and justice to Muslims and Christians. "We strongly condemn this tendency of the U.S. to behave like a globo-cop (global policeman) and we treat this as direct interference in the internal matters of India."

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