"Hindu terror" Eidolon

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[url="http://www.thehindu.com/2010/11/01/stories/2010110163461800.htm"]RSS to launch nationwide protests on November 10[/url]

NEW DELHI: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has decided to organise countrywide protests on November 10 against what it perceives to be a “political conspiracy” by the Centre to link it to terrorist activities. And in a resolution on Kashmir it said the call for “azadi” was “nothing short of treason.”



The decision to organise protests was taken by the Sangh at its three-day conclave of its Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal (central committee) in Jalgaon, Maharashtra that ended on Sunday.



RSS leader Ram Madhav said over telephone that senior RSS leaders, including chief Mohan Bhagwat and general secretary Suresh Joshi, would participate in the demonstrations. While Mr. Bhagwat will be present in Lucknow on November 10, Mr. Joshi will be in Hyderabad.



In a statement, the Sangh defended its leader Indresh Kumar, whose name figures in a charge sheet related to the Ajmer blast (but is not an accused). It said it had refrained from speaking on the subject at length since the matter was sub judice and the charge sheet had neither made out any specific case against him nor named him an accused.



Mr. Joshi said names of “responsible people” (meaning Mr. Indresh Kumar) were being connected with “saffron terrorist” incidents and this was “resented by Hindu society.” Earlier, soon after the Ajmer charge sheet was filed in a court in Rajasthan, Mr. Joshi had issued a veiled threat that any attempt to defame the “nationalist” RSS would not be tolerated.



The fact that Mr. Bhagwat has himself decided to join the protest establishes the seriousness with which the Sangh is taking the issue. There is a view in the Sangh and its affiliated organisations that if a terror link was to be firmly established with the Sangh, its entire “nationalist” and “patriotic” credentials would come crashing down and it could find itself in the position it was in 1948-49 when it was initially charged with involvement in the murder of the Mahatma. Some senior RSS leaders have earlier expressed this fear, and, therefore, initially the decision was taken to “fully cooperate” with investigation agencies and take the stance that some bad eggs in the organisation might have got involved in shady activities but not the Sangh as a matter of policy.