Integrate with the culture of the land, Sudarshan tells minorities

By K.V. Prasad

AGRA, OCT. 15. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) continued from where it left at Nagpur, sounding the minorities, especially the Christians, on its latest theme of ``Indianisation'' of their religious order while rejecting the present economic policies as being unsuitable for the country's growth and advocating a `Swadeshi' model instead.

The RSS chief, Mr. K.S. Sudarshan, made his observations at the concluding session of its three-day `Rashtra Suraksha Shivir (National Security Camp) here attended by nearly 50,000 activists. He reiterated there was a need for Christians here to Indianise their churches while suggesting that the Muslims should take pride in accepting the country's culture and its ancestors as theirs.

In a 55-minute address to the `swayamsevaks' and a gathering that included the Union Home Minister, Mr. L.K. Advani, and the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr. Ram Prakash Gupta, the RSS chief advocated the need to develop a `swadeshi' model of development while abandoning the Western model.

Mr. Sudarshan trained his guns on a section of people who, he said, ``lived in India but perceived the country's problems through European eyes''. He chose to call them `EurInds'.

The word from the camp, participation in which Mr. Sudarshan said had matched expectation, was that the minorities could adopt any method of worship but they could not build an identity on the basis of religion, suggesting that attempts to build nationality on the basis of faith had not worked anywhere.

``It is only when you integrate with the culture of the land you live in can you have a sense of belonging,'' Mr. Sudarshan said, a remark he later clarified at a press

conference saying that the minorities belonged to this country but they must respect and accept the `forefathers' just as the Indonesians accepted Hindu culture despite living in a Muslim State.

The church here had links with the Western church and the latter was funding `anti-national activities', particularly in the North-East, he charged. Later, at the press meet, Mr. Sudarshan said the politics of church was not `acceptable' alleging that they were acting `against the country's

interest'. He accused the United States of creating church orders in the North-East as it wanted to set-up military bases in the strategic region.

Recalling the Babri Masjid demolition and the recent attacks on minority institutions, Mr. Sudarshan asked the `swayamsevaks' to maintain a vigil since a ` hate campaign' had been launched against the majority community. He gave a clean chit to the RSS absolving it of any involvement in any such activity.

The RSS chief, who often quoted from the scriptures to drive his point home, also chose to cite Mahatma Gandhi as one opposed to religious conversions and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's views on the subject while endorsing Gandhi's model of development.

Lashing out at the model of development, Mr. Sudarshan reminded the BJP-led Government at the Centre to take cue from the Jana Sangh Chief, the late Deen Dayal Upadhyaya of providing ``work for each hand and water for every piece of land''.

Unveiling a six-point development model, he said, it should be village-centric, promote decentralisation, requiring low capital, require little energy, provide employment and be environmental friendly. Later, he clarified that the RSS rejected the Western model since it was based on four principles of struggle for existence, survival of the fittest, exploitation of nature and individual rights.

PTI reports:

Mr. Sudarshan told the Muslims that they had the ``blood of Rama and Krishna in their veins,'' and asked them ``why are you linking yourselves with the invader, Babur, whose mausoleum stands neglected even in Islamic Afghanistan.''

``The ancestors of Muslims did not come from abroad except a handful. Their roots are Indians. Like the Iranian Muslims who evolved Sufism, why don't they give an new form to Islam which can take everyone along,'' he said.

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