RSS chief flays Left

Rashtriya Swaymsevak Sangh Sarsanghachalak KS Sudarshan here today launched a bitter attack against the Left parties accusing them of "back-seat driving" in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and conspiring to harm the "Hindu forces". The RSS chief, however, did not make any direct attack on the Congress.

Delivering the annual Vijaydashami address, believed to be the policy statement of the RSS for the year, the sarsanghachalak pointed out that the "Marxputras" (leftists) and "Macaulayputras" (English educated elite) were among the prominent opponents of the Sangh.

"By chance, they are in a position today to do back-seat driving in the government and therefore are engaged in conspiring to harm the Hindu forces," he said.

"Because of their negative thinking, the Marxputras can do only destructive work, never can they do anything constructive. Otherwise, they should have transformed West Bengal, where they enjoyed uninterrupted power for the last 27 years, a Marxist paradise," Sudarshan said.

New Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief LK Advani and the party's youth leader Varun Gandhi were present during the annual address at the RSS headquarters here.

The former Deputy Prime Minister saluted the saffron flag in the RSS style with his hand raised up to the chest while Gandhi merely stood when the Sangh anthem was played.

Sudarshan said West Bengal had been pushed to the 14th position on the economic infrastructure ladder from the 4th that it occupied in 1971-72.

Quoting the regional provident fund commissioner, he said the state government had not deposited around Rs 500 crore in the provident fund account. "This speaks volumes about the Left Front government's love for the labour (class)," he said.

"As far as social infrastructure indicators are concerned, West Bengal ranked 10th in 1977, the year the Left Front came to power. After 25 years, it is stagnating in the same place," Sudarshan said.

Only field in which the state had shown any notable progress was the sale of liquor. The excise collection was never more than Rs 250 crore from 150 liquor shops and bars in the state when there was a prohibition on allotting more licences. But this had grown to Rs 1,000 crore after the CPI(M)-led government shed its inhibition about liquor in 2000, Sudarshan said.

The RSS chief, who in his earlier addresses had called for the Indianisation of the church and asked Muslims and Christians to accept their Indian ancestry, asked the government to make necessary changes in the education policy of madrasas "as has been done in other Islamic nations".

Taking a swipe at the BJP, which has come under attack from Sangh parivar outfits who accused it of abandoning Hindutva leading to its debacle in the polls, he said, "to win the elections by any means whatsoever they (political parties) strive to create their vote banks and to attract them keep on giving all sorts of assurances.

During the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP gave an assurance that if voted to power it would appoint 200,000 Urdu teachers.

"Did it ever occur to them that Urdu has been the language promoting vivisection of the country?", he said.

On the economic front, Sudarshan expressed concern over the government's plan to raise foreign equity in the telecom sector to 74 per cent.

"This only means that in this strategically most important area, Bharat will lose its dominant position and multinationals will have a field day".

"I appeal to the Prime Minister to see that whenever foreign capital is invested in our country, the right to take the final decision always remains with us and not any foreigner".

He also expressed concern over the increasing population of Muslims and Christians and infiltration of Bangladeshis into the country.

He suggested that federal forces be given the right to intervene in the naxalite and insurgency-affected areas and advocated people's initiatives to face the problems faced by the country.

Expressing concern over the squabbles between the different states, he asked, "is it not the time when a reappraisal of the entire political set up is needed?".