Date:21/01/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/01/21/stories/2003012104310700.htm

National

RSS chief for replicating 'Gujarat experiment'

By Our Special Correspondent

DHARWAD Jan. 20. The RSS chief, K.S. Sudarshan, has welcomed the thinking that the "Gujarat experiment" should be replicated in other States as well.

Mr. Sudarshan was addressing a rally to mark the conclusion of the three-day State-level camp of the workers of Karnataka Uttar (the RSS has divided the State into two, Uttar and Dakshin, for its organisational purposes) here on Sunday. The rally was preceded by a route march by swayamsevaks in their traditional attire.

Mr. Sudharshan said that the developments in Gujarat following the Godhra incident had sparked widespread discussions on Hindutva.

He, however, regretted that the efforts being made to wean youngsters away from Western influence, and inculcate in them the true values of the country, were being dubbed as saffronisation.

Hindutva, he said, would form the bulwark of the country's plans to build a strong, prosperous and self-reliant nation. Though Hinduism had a broad connotation, it was being construed in a narrow sense by vested interests.

Despite the Supreme Court saying that Hinduism was not a religion but a way of life, efforts were being made by the "chosen sons of Macaulay and Marx'' to spread canards against it, he said.

Criticising the media for its role during post-Godhra, Mr. Sudarashan said it chose to soft-pedal the Godhra incident, but sought to magnify whatever happened as a consequence, portraying it as something that posed a danger to the secular fabric of the country. The media, he said, had played a "highly partisan and one-sided role".

Only 70 villages of the 18,600 villages in Gujarat had been affected by the riots, but the media had portrayed the entire State as affected by the riots. But the people of Gujarat had given a "suitable answer" by returning the BJP to power in the Assembly election.