The Hindu : National : Fernandes' poser to RSS

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Wednesday, Jul 13, 2005

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National

Fernandes' poser to RSS

Special Correspondent

"Confine yourself to socio-cultural activities"

NEW DELHI: National Democratic Alliance convener George Fernandes on Tuesday asked the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh to confine itself to socio-cultural activities and not "arrogate to itself a political role".

"This clear separation of roles is necessary to promote healthy, democratic traditions in India," he said in a statement here.

Expressing concern at the happenings in the Bharatiya Janata Party, Mr. Fernandes appealed to it to sort things out at the earliest. "Who should be the president of the BJP is an internal matter, but the goings-on in the recent weeks have caused deep unease amongst the NDA allies and non-Congress forces. Since all NDA parties are in some sense inter-dependent, what happens to the largest constituent is bound to impact the NDA's future."

People were getting disillusioned with the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance at the Centre, he said. It was "unfortunate" that the BJP seemed to be facing internal problems at a time when people were again looking to the NDA with hope and expectation.

"The NDA must constantly reaffirm the secular ideology and superior and truly democratic value system. This alone will help us to both disarm and defeat the hypocritical and anti-people Congress-Communist combine."

Mr. Fernandes said he found nothing "wrong'' or "objectionable" in the comments made by BJP president L.K. Advani on Mohammad Ali Jinnahduring his visit to Pakistan.

In ordinary circumstances he would not have commented on the RSS but in the "extraordinary" situation that seemed to have developed in the main Opposition party and his concern for the NDA prompted him to urge the RSS to keep off politics, Mr. Fernandes said.

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