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Thursday, Sep 20, 2007
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Ramar Sethu issue: RSS directs its organisations to work together

Neena Vyas

A Ramar Sethu Raksha Samiti has been set up for the purpose

BJP, VHP say there is no contradiction between what both want to do on the issue
RSS does not want the issue to be victim of political compulsions as in Ayodhya issue

NEW DELHI: All organisations of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have been directed to work together and in a coordinated manner to take forward the campaign related to Ramar Sethu. A Ramar Sethu Raksha Samiti has been set up for this purpose with representatives of various RSS organisations on it.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leaders confirmed here on Wednesday that there was no contradiction between what the BJP and the VHP wanted to do. While Murli Manohar Joshi and Gopal Vyas, both Rajya Sabha MPs, represent the BJP on this Samiti, its general secretary is working president of the VHP S. Vedantam.

RSS wary?

Against the backdrop of the experience of the Ayodhya agitation, when the Sangh seemed to have lost the plot, the RSS, it seems, is wary of the Ramar Sethu agitation going the Ayodhya way. It does not want it to be hijacked by the BJP, turned into a political agitation, and then discarded when the party is in power due to “political compulsions,” with consequent loss of face for the RSS and its other organisations such as the VHP.

Addressing the press here on Wednesday, VHP leader Ashok Singhal confirmed that aims of the VHP and BJP were identical. Both were opposed to the destruction of the under-sea structure described as Ramar Sethu, but both were in favour of the Sethusamudram project. They both preferred a different alignment that would bring no harm to the Ramar Sethu.

“We are all in it together,” Mr. Singhal said. He disclosed that at an RSS meeting recently, where representatives of the BJP and the VHP were present, the direction was that all wings of the RSS should work in a coordinated manner to take the agitation forward.

RSS has ‘larger’ goal

A senior BJP leader explained: the RSS view and its goal is larger than the BJP’s as it wants to raise Hindu consciousness.

The BJP’s aim often gets restricted to electoral victories. The RSS does not want the Ramar Sethu issue to become a victim of any “compulsions of coalition politics” as the Ayodhya issue did.

It is recalled that when the National Democratic Alliance was set up, the three RSS issues that formed the core of the BJP’s plank — Ramar temple, Uniform Civil Code and abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution — were shelved and forgotten as they were not acceptable to BJP’s allies such as the Janata Dal (United), the Akali Dal, the Trinamool Congress or the Biju Janata Dal.

Already JD(U) president Sharad Yadav has indicated that Ramar Sethu is certainly not an issue for his party that would rather take up bread and butter issues affecting people who live in grinding poverty and hunger. All other NDA allies such as the Trinamool, the Akali Dal and the BJP have been silent on the Sethu issue.

While the BJP will certainly continue to raise the Ramar Sethu issue — as its leaders have already done — the agitation on the ground would be directed by the Samiti set up for the purpose. A party leader said workers of the party who participated in the agitation were not to carry the party flag to the demonstration venues.

The so-called differences between the BJP and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad on the Ramar Sethu issue are only related to personal jealousies, not to the issue that has the full support of the RSS and all its wings.

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