The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) has urged the Congress party to rein in its ministers and leaders from making baseless charges and instead take action to address the concerns of the people on corruption.
RSS Spokesperson Ram Madhav was responding to statements, both by ministers such as Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram etc.. as well as leaders such as Digvijay Singh, that RSS was “behind” the anti-corruption movement in the country.
“It is time that ministers in the government stop such silly and baseless charges against leaders of the anti-corruption movement, whether it is Anna Hazare or Ramdev Baba.
“Such responses smack of a sinister conspiracy to protect the corrupt of the government.. not meet the demands of these people,” Madhav said.
“The important fact is that there is corruption, there is black money and there is zero tolerance to corruption in the country,” he added.
His comments have come also in the wake of a recent press conference in which the home minister of the Country P Chidambaram justified using force against Baba Ramdev’s protest by claiming that Baba was in secret understanding with RSS.
Chidambaram said the Government felt that RSS intended to destabilize the Congress government through the protests, implying that widespread protests would force the Congress to call for new elections.
The RSS, a cadre based organization with roots in pre-independent India, advocates a return to what it sees as core Indian values and a more nationalistic approach to foreign policy etc.. It also tries to prevent Indians, particularly tribal people, from being converted to religions whose heads or leadership remain outside India — such as Islam and Christianity.
The current phase of mass agitation-based anti-corruption movement in India was started by veteran Gandhian Anna Hazare in April. Baba Ramdev, a Hindu guru and Yoga exponent, had also been raising such issues in his sermons and speeches for many years, but had never hit the streets with the demands.
After the unexpected and phenomenal response given by the middle class to Anna’s campaign, Baba too launched a fast-cum-demonstration earlier this month. However, thanks to the presence of many people related to the Hindu right in the movement, the government crushed the agitation with force, sending in policemen to clear it up in the middle of the night.
The move was criticised by most people, including Anna. Anna has also suggested that people who accuse him of being an RSS ally should have their heads examined. Anna has a history of attacking both the Congress and right-of-centre parties such as the BJP and Shiv Sena.
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