The Hindu : RSS warns of `more Godhras'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 30, 2002

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RSS warns of `more Godhras'

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI APRIL 29. The RSS has warned that there could be "more Godhras'' in other parts of the country and this "information'' gathered by it through "feedback'' from the people ha been conveyed to the Prime Minister and other top BJP functionaries at the two-day meeting held at his residence.

The spokesperson for the RSS, M.G.Vaidya, told reporters today that although his organisation had information that "more Godhras'' were being planned, he could not say specifically when and where. That was for the Intelligence Bureau to find out.

Describing the violence in Gujarat that followed Godhra as a "most unfortunate reaction'', he added that "Godhra was not an accident, but part of a chain of events.'' And he expected "more Godhras'' to follow.

Mr. Vaidya lashed out at "elements'' waiting to destabilise the country. Now there was peace in Gujarat — school examinations were held, panchayat elections conducted, `hajis' had returned safely — he claimed, adding that the RSS had neither exerted pressure on the BJP to get Narendra Modi appointed Chief Minister nor was it pressuring the Government on his continuance. It was ''within the ambit'' of the BJP to take these decisions, he added.

He also attacked the press for giving a "partisan picture'' of what was happening in Gujarat and alleged that a documentary film shown to a "select audience'' in Delhi today portrayed the agony of one particular community. He added that the RSS had "information'' that "maulvis" from Uttar Pradesh were active in madrasas in Gujarat, engaged in fundamentalist activities.

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