Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) ‘sarkaryavah’ Suresh Joshi said on Monday that the Uttar Pradesh government should take a “serious view” of “love jihad” as it “hurts the dignity of women.”
Addressing the media a day after the conclusion of the organisation’s three-day national council meeting, Mr. Joshi said it was up to the Bharatiya Janata Party to take a call in Haryana and Maharashtra.
On the NCP extending outside support to the BJP to form a government in Maharashtra, he said the decision would be taken by the BJP. “These are political issues, the RSS has no role to play,” Mr. Joshi said.
Mr. Joshi said “Hindu samaj [society]” had been facing the “shame” of “love jihad.” “There is no doubt that such acts hurt women’s dignity and injustice is meted out to her.”
On the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Mr. Joshi said, “The temple is already there, what is needed is that it should be made bigger and better.”
Referring to the BJP’s election manifesto, the RSS leader said the party had said that it would remove obstacles to build the temple.
Mr. Joshi said the three-day meeting reviewed the work done by the Sangh till date and discussed plans for the future. He said the Sangh wasn’t bothered about allegations that it professed communalism.
“Had it been so, then the RSS would not have been able to expand its base,” he said.
On honour killings, he said, the Sangh had always opposed them the same way it had opposed other illegal acts.
Mr. Joshi said the government should remove the hurdles to bring back black money as it had given an assurance to the people that it would do so.
About the Sangh’s programmes, he said in the next two to three years about 250 villages in the country would be taken up for integrated development.
