 "Say we get orders from Nagpur, not Pakistan: Jitendra Singh to BJP cadre")
Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Friday told Bharatiya Janata Party cadre to tell those trying to "create a divide" in the society by making "provocative references" to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh that they receive their orders "from Nagpur and not Islamabad".
"If somebody sarcastically taunts you by saying that you receive orders from Nagpur (the RSS headquarters), you should politely reply back saying that you are proud to take them from Nagpur and not Islamabad or Pakistan as they do," he told a public rally at Kishtwar town in Jammu.
"Those who make these sarcastic and provocative references are actually suffering from a deep sense of insecurity and seeking their political survival by keeping the separatists lobby and Pakistan in good humour through obsessive and childish references to RSS and Nagpur," he added.
Singh lashed out at those who try to "create a divide" in the society by making provocative references to certain "nationalist social organisations" (RSS).
The Union Minister said, regardless of political affiliation or belief, all Indians must unitedly rise to the challenge posed by Pakistan and its "sympathisers".
His comments were in an apparent reference to his brother and National Conference's (NC) provincial president Devender Singh Rana's statement on Wednesday in which he criticised the PDP-BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir for "promoting" the RSS in the sensitive region of Chenab Valley by permitting lathi-wielding 'swayamsevaks' to march on the streets of Doda.
Rana had also regretted that the state administration had become a "tool in the hands of the BJP" which was "furthering the RSS agenda openly and taking orders from Nagpur".
More From This Section
Singh said the BJP believed in non-violence but added that even Mahatma Gandhi had preached that non-violence was not a virtue of the "meek or the weak".
Therefore, he said, the belief in non-violence should not be construed as "cowardice or weakness".
Hitting out at the separatist leaders of the state, he said each of them should give at least one son from their families for the "so-called jihad", before "inciting" the innocent youth to take to violence and lose their lives.
Describing Kishtwar as a glittering example of Hindu-Muslim unity and brotherhood, Singh said people, as well as, Hindu and Muslim religious leaders of the region deserved to be congratulated for not "succumbing to the provocation" to cause communal strife.
He said Kishtwar was going through a rapid phase of development and referred to the wide network of roads and power projects coming up in the region.
The Union Minister said he had honoured his commitment of setting mobile phone towers en-route the Machail Yatra and sanctioning of a degree college at Paddar.