Sushma Swaraj meets Jaswant Singh

September 1, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Aug 31 (ANI): The deputy Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj met the expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jaswant Singh at his residence on Monday.

According to sources, Swaraj sought for an appointment to meet Singh in the morning but the reasons for the meeting is still not known.

The BJP expelled Singh who is representing the Darjeeling constituency on Aug 19, two days after the launch of his controversial book “Jinnah: India, Partition and Independence” the biography of Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

The meeting of the two is significant as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat categorically asked the BJP leadership to set the house in order at the earliest and to stop the infighting.

The series of meetings between Sangh top brass and BJP central leadership has resolved to set up a co-ordination committee comprising of former vice president of India Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and Murli Manohar Joshi among others.

Earlier, former RSS chief K.S.Sudarshan met Leader of Opposition L.K.Advani. Sudarshan was heading the RSS when Advani was forced to resign following his statement on Jinnah in 2005(ANI)

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What ex-RSS chief Sudarshan said about Jinnah is right: Bhagwat

August 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Aug.28 (ANI): Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Mohan Bhagwat said on Friday that what his predecessor K.S. Sudarshan had said two days ago about Pakistan Founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah is right.

“What Sudarshanji said is right, RSS holds all in high esteem,” said Bhagwat

He further said that the perception of the Muslim community about RSS is changing

Surdarshan said on Monday that Jinnah was committed to an undivided India.

“Jinnah had many facets. If you look at history, he was once associated with Lokmanya Tilak and was totally committed to undivided India,” Sudarshan said when asked if he considered the Muslim League leader secular.

“And when Gandhiji started the Khilafat movement, with the idea that currently we are opposing the British and if Muslims join in then their support will help gain independence. But at that time Jinnah opposed it saying that if the Caliph in Turkey has been dethroned, what has India got to do with it. That time nobody listened to him, which saddened him. So, he quit the Congress and left for England and only returned in 1927.

“After returning in 1927, Britishers brainwashed Jinnah and prompted him to put forth the demand for a separate state of Pakistan for Muslims,” Sudarshan added.

Sudarshan said that everybody knows history, and added had Gandhiji been adamant, like when he was on giving crores of rupees to Pakistan, then the partition would not have taken place. “But he did not do it because Nehru was his weakness.”

Commenting on Singh’s expulsion from BJP, he said: “It is an internal matter of the party.”

RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav had then sought to clarify Sudarshan’s remarks, saying the former Sangh chief did not mean to say that Jinnah wasn’t responsible for the partition of the Indian subcontinent.

Bhagwat had on August 18 called for an end to factionalism in the BJP, the political wing of the Sangh Parivar, and said the party leadership should make way for younger leaders.

The expulsion of Jaswant Singh, two days after the launch of his latest book-Jinnah: India -Partition – Independence, has been criticised by senior leaders Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha. Shourie has called on the RSS to take over the leadership of the BJP. (ANI)

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BJP battles history, Congress in RSS hometown

April 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment

THE RASHTRIYA Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), headquartered in Nagpur, is not involved in active politics, but its impact on the Indian political scene is immense. But in its hometown of Nagpur, the RSS has hardly made any inroads.

In one of the most ironical records in politics, the BJP, the political arm of the saffron outfit, has won just one Lok Sabha election from Nagpur – in 1998. It is the Congress that has held sway here since Independence.

And, even the BJP’s 1998 winner – Banwarilal Purohit, a newspaper magnet associated with several educational and social organisations – is a former Congressman, who shifted loyalties in the early ’90s when the Ram Mandir wave was sweeping the country. He lost his first election as a BJP candidate but his persistence paid off in 1998.

The RSS-BJP combine is now making a concentrated effort to regain its 1998 golden touch by fielding the then hero, Purohit, from Nagpur city. “Over 6,000 full-time Sangh Parivar members are working hard to ensure victory for the BJP,” claims Purohit.

However, Purohit and BJP’s has been a love-hate relationship. Soon after winning the 1998 Lok Sabha election, he fell out with BJP’s influential leader Pramod Mahajan and Nitin Gadkari.

He contested the 1999 Lok Sabha election as a Congressman from Ramtek and the 2004 polls as a Vidarbha Praja party candidate. He lost both times.

Since then, Purohit lobbied hard to join the BJP. He case was helped by senior RSS leaders, including the then chief K.S. Sudarshan. Purohit’s persistence bore fruit when BJP’s prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani announced his return to the party during the BJP national convention in February.

Now, the saffron camp is banking on the BSP eating into Congress’s dalit votes and also the infighting in the Congress Nagpur unit. If these two factors work in BJP’s favour, Purohit might repeat his 1998 feat.

Congress’ candidate from Nagpur is union minister Vilasrao Muttemwar.

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RSS is capable of changing along with time: Mohan Bhagawat

March 22, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Nagpur, Mar 22 (ANI): Newly elected Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagawat has said that the RSS is capable of changing along with time, and would not deviate from its avowed goals.

Addressing RSS functionaries here on Saturday, he said, “We are among those organisations which easily changes with time. Our organisation, the RSS, is more dynamic than other organisations, we can even change our chief within minutes, and the organisation changes itself with consensus. Though we can change so fast, we always keep our eye on our goals,” Bhagawat said.

A veterinary doctor by profession, the 59-year-old Bhagawat replaced K S Sudarshan, who was holding the top post for almost nine years.

The election of Bhagawat came on the second day of a three-day RSS conclave at Nagpur.he change of guard in the Sangh Parivar hierarchy came at the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha, an apex council of all Sangh Parivar outfits and frontal Organisations.

Bhagwat has held various responsibilities including district prachark for Akola, provincial pracharak for Nagpur and zonal pracharak for Bihar before being made joint secretary. (ANI)

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RSS chief K S Sudarshan announces retirement

March 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Nagpur, Mar 21 (ANI): Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RRS) chief K S Sudarshan today announced his retirement from the post of party chief, paving way for Mohan Bhagwat’s elevation to the top post.

Sudarshan’s decision came as a three-day conclave of the RSS has begun here to chalk out the strategy for the upcoming general elections.

Kuppahalli Sitaramayya Sudarshan was nine when he first attended an RSS shakha. He was appointed as a pracharak in 1954.

Only full-time members of RSS can become pracharaks. His first posting as a pracharak was in Raigarh district. In 1964, he was made the prant pracharak of Madhya Bharat at a fairly young age.

In 1969, he was appointed convener of the heads of All-India Organisations’. This was followed by a stint in the North-East (1977) and he took over as the chief of the Boudhik Cell (the RSS think-tank) two years later.

Since 1990, Sudarshan has been a joint general secretary of the organisation. He has the rare distinction of having held both posts of sharirik (physical exercises) and baudhik (intellectual) pramukh (chief) on different occasions. (ANI)

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RSS to sack vice-chief Mohan Bhagwat for ISI involvement

March 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Mar 12 (ANI): The Annual General Body meeting of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RRS) called the “Pratinidhi Sabha” will be held in Nagpur from March 20 where party chief K S Sudarshan is likely to sack vice-chief Mohan Bhagwat, according to the website Politicsparty.com.

Politicsparty.com said Sudarshan is expected to appoint a New Second-in Command in place of Bhagwat, who was allegedly charged with regularly receiving payments from Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Agency.

The RSS apex leadership led by Sudarshan has taken cognizance of the Anti-Terror Investigation and the alleged payments by the ISI to RSS apex position holders, says the website. (ANI)

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