|
THE NATION:
RSS
Missionary
Imposition
Sudarshan's
call for an 'Indian Church' creates a controversy the BJP didn't quite
want
By
Farzand Ahmed
Soon
after he took over as the fifth Sarsanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh (RSS) six months ago, K.S. Sudarshan predicted the new millennium
would witness an "explosion of Hindutva". So far the only explosions
that have occurred have come from Sudarshan's verbal pyrotechnics. The
latest salvo was fired at Sudarshan's Vijaya Dashmi speech-the day marked
the 75th anniversary of the RSS' foundation-at Nagpur. Addressing the
Sangh faithful, he called for an indigenous church and an Indianised Islam.
 |
| Sudarshan's
anti-church statement has the BJP's rivals protesting |
The RSS chief
asked Indian Christians to free themselves of "divisive" foreign
missionaries who were causing "havoc" in, particularly, the
north-eastern parts of the country by allegedly encouraging extremists
and separatists. This made the Church, said Sudarshan, part of a "political
conspiracy" to destabilise India. There was unsolicited advice for
Indian Muslims as well. Sudarshan asked them to join the "cultural
mainstream" by treating Ram and Krishna as national icons and accepting
the country's ancient heritage as their own-in the manner of Indonesian
Muslims.
Not unexpectedly,
Sudarshan's address caused a furore. For a start, it seemed to run contrary
to the conciliatory signals BJP President Bangaru Laxman has been sending
to the Muslim community. "Who do I take seriously? Laxman or Sudarshan?"
asked Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, widely regarded a progressive Muslim scholar.
"Religion and culture are not crafted in a closed room nor in Nagpur's
Reshimbagh (the RSS headquarters). They are a historical process."
On his part, Oswald Gracias, secretary-general of the Catholic Bishops'
Conference of India (CBCI), discounted accusations of extra-national loyalties:
"No single authority can dictate the political or cultural preferences
of the people of any country or region." The CBCI was unequivocal
in rejecting Sudarshan's suggestion of a state-encouraged Church on the
lines of China's: "In calling upon the government to involve itself
in an 'Indian Church' and 'send home' all those he does not consider Indians,
Sudarshan has challenged the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom."
Political rivals of the Sangh and the BJP were quick to attack Sudarshan.
While Congress MP Arjun Singh was particularly acrid, Amar Singh, general
secretary of the Samajwadi Party, made a simple point: "To suspect
anybody's patriotism and interfere in matters of faith is disgusting and
intolerable."
Pg.2
Top
|
Relics
of old empires exist everywhere. Why can't the Mani Shankar Aiyars of
India let them be? asks INDIA TODAY Senior Editor Ravi Shankar in
