Some BJP candidates are RSS nominees: Pravin Maniar

A few candidates suggested by the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) have been fielded by the BJP for the parliamentary elections in Gujarat, said Pravin Maniar, sampark pramukh of the western zone of RSS.

Maniar said while the RSS has never forced the BJP to field candidates proposed by it, "a few" of the candidates proposed by the RSS are now in the fray.

The elections will be held on Tuesday. Maniar, who is the face of the RSS in Gujarat, broke his silence after a long time, speaking on the activities of the sangh, its relationship with organisations such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the role of the sangh in the elections.

"The VHP, whose relations with the BJP had strained over the Temple issue, has now been pacified," Maniar said.

He said with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) agreeing to include the Ram Temple issue in its manifesto, the VHP is now pacified.

"Yes. The relations had been strained to a certain extent. There were two or three issues that the NDA partners had a problem with and the major issue, that of the temple, has now been sorted out, easing tensions between the VHP and BJP to a large extent," he said.

Maniar said the relations between Pakistan and India have strengthened a great deal.

"I believe that after the elections, the Muslim leaders will agree on construction of the Ram Temple at the spot and will construct a masjid a little distance away," Maniar said.

On the role of the RSS in the campaign, the leader said while the sangh does not get into active campaigning, its pracharaks do ask people to vote for a party that has Ram Temple on its agenda, which propagates implementation of POTA and which is for the cause of Hindutva.

"For that matter, we have sent our agenda to all political parties and asked them to get back to us on how much they accept our ideas. Most of them make their stance clear through media statements and the like. That more or less defines where they stand," Maniar said.

"RSS has sent its members to the BJP, the VHP and various other organisations. The hold of communism over India's print media is also slowly diminishing. The RSS has encouraged members who are interested in a media career by assisting them in getting journalism degrees," Maniar said.

He said RSS is also using its "relations with the media" to get its sympathisers into the media, and hence project its ideology more strongly.