RSS for dialogue with Muslims, Christians - The Hindu

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The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Sangh Parivar are
reconciling themselves to the need for a dialogue with the Christian and
Muslim leadership to remove mutual misgivings and misunderstandings and
the process has already begun. But that has not deterred them from
accusing the Catholic Church of having hatched a global conspiracy,
Evangelisation 2000 and Beyond, for religious conversion.

The national executive of the RSS which met here on Sunday, concluding
day of the five-day deliberations of the Sangh Parivar (the
contemplation camp), passed a resolution "condemning the Christian
missionaries' attempt at spreading disinformation that the RSS and VHP
were attacking the Christians". The resolution said the Christian
missionaries fabricated the story that Hindu activists raped nuns at
Jhabua "but the fact is that the accused are anti-social elements and
converted Christians and similarly they spread baseless rumours that the
Bible was burnt in Kerala and Gujarat".

Mr. K. Sudarshan, joint general secretary of the RSS, who briefed the
presspersons about the meetings, said Jhabua was a Christian village and
even Bishop Yuhanon Mar Philoxinos, president of Malbar Bishop Council,
had found that the allegation was unfounded.

The resolution said false propaganda was being unleashed against Hindu
organisations to malign them so that conversion could be carried out.
"It is well-planned and organised and backed by huge resources," the
resolution said and asked the Hindus to be vigilant against "dangers the
weaker sections of the society are facing".

But Mr. Sudarshan said the Sangh Parivar felt it had to establish a
dialogue with the Muslims and Christians to remove all
misunderstandings. Such a dialogue had already commenced at various
levels and would continue. The ways of budding bridges were discussed
at the contemplation camp but the major question was who should take the
initiative and how.

"We cannot leave out and ignore over 12 crore Muslims and three crore
Christians, after all they are our people and have not come from abroad.
We know that even among the Muslims, particularly the new generation, a
section thinks the relations should improve," he said.

When asked why the RSS discontinued such talks which it had started, Mr.
Sudarshan said the talks were not stopped. "During the emergency the RSS
and Jamat-e-Islami members were together in jails and the attempts had
begun to understand each other and the process would have continued.
But it was the late President, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, who wrote to Mrs.
Indira Gandhi that if these organisations came together, the Congress
would be wiped out and that resulted in propaganda (among the Muslims),"
he said.

'Reconsider FDI in insurance'

The RSS also strongly urged the Centre to reconsider its decision about
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the insurance sector and drop 100 per
cent FDI in the cigarette industry "to honour the Swadeshi mandate it
has received from the people".

The national executive of RSS said in a resolution that "the Central
Government being overwhelmed by constraints of immediacy, is ignoring
the long-term implications of such policies."

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