On the eve of the Babri Masjid demolition anniversary on Friday, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Rao Bhagwat said there was no reason for the Sangh to regret what happened 17 years back and maintained that its full support to the ‘Ram temple movement’ would continue.
Speaking at the Chandigarh Press Club on Saturday, Mr. Bhagwat said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is an independent political organisation and the RSS had ‘no time’ to run it. “There are people in the BJP who were once in the RSS and if our help is sought on any issue, we will help but they have capable leaders to run their affairs,” he added.
Responding to a question whether the right-wing Hindu group regretted the demolition, he said: “We all want the Ram temple to be built there [Ayodhya]. The RSS will always be associated with the Ram temple issue.”
Mr. Bhagwat said the pulling down of the structure was not the result of any conspiracy, but a spontaneous reaction from the kar sevaks “Whatever happened was connected with the movement for the construction of the Ram temple,” he said.
The RSS chief also questioned the credibility of the Liberhan Commission, “What has been said in the Liberhan report could have been said 17 years back without the wastage of time and money. There is a question mark over the credibility of the Commission report as there are many factual errors in it. There was no conspiracy in the mosque demolition as pointed out by the Liberhan report.”
On the issue of the RSS being associated with controversies against other religious minorities, the RSS chief said: “If the RSS’ name crops up in any controversy, we are open to a probe. We will submit ourselves to it. We have our own ideology and follow that.” The RSS chief said it was wrong to say that the organisation was out of sync with modern India. “We are moving with modern India.”
