RSS threat to Govt. on temple issue

AGRA, OCT. 14. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) today issued a veiled threat to the BJP-led NDA coalition saying any Government opposing the construction of Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya will have to face its ``consequences''.

The Sangh Parivar outfit criticised the BJP ``as a political party'' for diluting its stand on issues such as the Ram temple construction and Article 370 ``which brought it to power.''

``The people of this country want a grand temple to be constructed at the place of Lord Ram's birth. Any Government opposing it will face the ire of the people when the elections come, like Mulayam Singh Yadav faced after the firing on kar sevaks in 1990,'' the RSS chief organiser, Mr. Suresh Rao Ketkar, told PTI in an interview here.

Conceding that it was ``not practical'' to build the temple without the Government's consent, he said the RSS would build social pressure to facilitate its construction.

He said that of all the political parties, the BJP was ``closest to the RSS ideology'' and that the RSS understood the party's ``coalition compulsions''. He said the organisation would abide by the Supreme Court decision on the matter but expressed confidence that ``the court will decide in our favour based on the country's culture and traditions.''

Asked what if the court verdict went against the temple construction, he said ``it is a hypothetical question. We will cross the river when we come to it.''

The RSS, he said, would strive to counter its image as ``Gandhi's killers'' and project its service aspect among the masses through a `Jan Jagran Abhiyan' (door-to-door contact programme).

Seeks to shed image

The RSS sought to shed the ``fundamentalist Hindu outfit'' saying that it was engaged in the holistic development of the society through over 25,000 community projects across the country.

Mr. Suresh Joshi, in-charge of RSS' social service activities, told presspersons here today that ``the development of any nation is strongly linked with the development of the individuals it is made up of.''

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