Posted by on April 10, 19102 at 03:00:41:
By Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Sept. 28. An attempt is being made by the fanatic fringe in the RSS to virtually justify the
savage attacks on missionaries on the ground that they represented 'anti-national forces' which were
working against Hindu interests. This section has demanded that the Centre must throw out of the country
all those who 'tempt Hindus' to convert to Christianity and who through their schools spread anti-Hindu
sentiment.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, an RSS outfit, today stated that the recent incidents of violence against the
Christian missionaries in Jhabua and Baghpat were the result of 'anger of patriotic Hindu youth against
anti-national forces'. Virtually justifying the attacks, the VHP has demanded that these missionaries be
asked ``to pack up and leave the country''.
This sharply-worded statement against the missionaries comes at a time when the country has been
shocked by the violence of the attack on them. In a statement, the VHP central secretary and former BJP
MP, Mr. B. L. Sharma `Prem', said that 'the assault on the missionaries in Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh, and
the violence and loot against them in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, was the direct result of conversion of
Hindus to Christianity by the Christian priests'. And as if to drive home his point, he also charged the
Congress Party government in Madhya Pradesh with being 'unnecessarily energetic' in dealing with the
incident and 'giving it undue importance.' The VHP alleged that 'the Congress Government is behaving as
if India is still under colonial rule.'
In an aggressive and challenging tone, the statement virtually warned not only the missionaries but the
Congress and other parties as well. 'They, the Congress Party, may close its eyes to the black deeds of
the missionaries, to their efforts to convert Hindus, but we in the VHP will not shut our eyes to the
activities of these traitors,' Mr. Sharma has said.
The VHP, is in fact the mainstream organisation for carrying forward the RSS ideology at the grassroots,
for preparing the ground, testing the ideas, making them popular, before the political wing, the BJP, steps
in. That was exactly what happened in the Babri Masjid-Ram temple controversy. It was the VHP which
spearheaded the agitation, got various Hindu priests together on a platform, built the public mood, before
the BJP stepped in to encash this as votes. The VHP statement on the Christian missionaries thus reflects
the RSS view on the matter, for the RSS, like the BJP, has not yet given up its demand related to the
Gyan Vapi mosque in Kashi and the Idgah in Mathura - that these should be handed over to the 'Hindus'.