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The pilot of the ill-fated Indian Airlines flight IC 814 should not have shown boldness to confront the hijackers and keep the plane at Amritsar airport, VHP working president Ashok Singhal on Monday said and accused foreign intelligence agencies like the Pakistani ISI and CIA for planting” terrorism in India.
Echoing the RSS line, he said that the government's decision to swap three dreaded Islamic militants in exchange for the hostages on the Indian Airlines flight IC 814 showed the Hindus as “cowards,” and that it was time they were made “courageous.”
Replying to a question whether the Vajpayee government had “mishandled” the eight-day long ordeal, Mr Singhal said that “even Mahatma Gandhi had discribed the Hindu a coward and Muslim a bully. The prime effort of the RSS is to make the Hindus bold and brave enough to fight against anti-national forces. Here in the hijack incidence, the pilot should have been bold enough to defy the orders of the hijackers and kept the plane in Indian soil.”
“It is not that now we or the RSS are working to make a bully out of a Hindu. We want to only make him courageous,” the VHP leader said.
He also made a veiled attack on the pilot of the hijacked Indian Airlines Aircraft D Saran saying, “Agar sahas hota to, pilot plane ko urata hi nahi (Had he been courageous, the pilot would not have taken off).”
Paying tribute to the “teachings of courage and valour” of the Sikh spiritual leaders, he said that it was this courage and moral and spiritual values which helped the Hindus and Sikhs jointly fight terrorism in Punjab.
“We have to make ourselves strong and courageous ... I am not only talking about muscle power, but moral and spiritual strength which we are trying to spread through over 6,000 schools run by the VHP and other Hindu organisations, he said. “A meek person cannot survive in this world,” he added.
Further lauding the efforts of the RSS to make the Hindus brave enough to stand against terrorism, Mr Singhal said that “it is the audacity shown by both the Hindus and Sikhs that eventually paid in Punjab to subdue terrorism in that state.”
He said that “the RSS believed in Balopasana (worship of strength). Not just physical strength, but mental and spiritual strength also. If we have total strength then only we could confront evil forces like the Islamic militants who are determined to sabotage the country.”
The VHP leader further said that foreign espionage agencies like CIA and Pakistani ISI were working overnight to “plant” terrorism in the country through their operatives.
Mr Singhal then said the VHP had drawn out a detailed strategy to make the country totally literate in 10 years, without taking any, help from the government.
“Even after 50 years
of Independence, one third of our population is illiterate. With the notable
exception of Kerala and Mizoram, no state government regardless of political
colour has made any notable effort in eradicating illiteracy. Worst affected
are the tribals, who live in villages and far away hills and jungles. Though
education has been granted by the Indian Constitution to every child in
India, the government failed to implement it for these poor people. So
we have begun the literacy mission through Ekal Vidyalaya (one teacher
school),” the VHP leader said.
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