The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leadership has denied imparting arms training to youth and appropriating temple spaces for conducting shakhas in the State.
RSS State joint secretary M. Radhakrishnan told The Hindu on Thursday that the government could initiate any action of its choice on proving that the Sangh was involved in arms training and also dared the government to clarify whether it had received any complaint from the Travancore Devaswom Board or temple advisory committees of the Swayam Sevaks misusing the premises of temples for such purposes.
“When scores of temples across the State were left in ruin and disuse and did not have the resources even for performing the routine rituals, the Swayam Sevaks took the lead to revive them and thus the movement became an integral part of most of the temple management system. Arms training is not part of the schedule and the focus is on cultivating a camaraderie among youth. The current government move with political intent is aimed at driving the Swayam Sevaks away from the temples for accruing political gains, mainly for appeasing the minority communities,” he says.
The government is free to act on complaints of disruption of peace and harmony, be it from the devout or the public, but not on politically motivated or doctored ones.
ViolenceReacting to the spurt of violence involving mostly the RSS and the CPI(M) activists, Mr. Radhakrishnan said that the onus of maintaining peace vests with the government and the Sangh was open to dialogue for maintaining peace, if initiated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The government should take the initiative for engaging the parties concerned to put an end to such incidents.
He accused the CPI(M) of perpetrating violence to stem the flow of cadres from the party to the Bharatiya Janata Party and also to the Sangh. If the violence continues, the Sangh would resort to legal and Constitutional methods and also mobilise its cadres to launch a strong political movement, which he termed, would be detrimental to the CPI(M). “The plan to placate the minority communities and destroy the Sangh would not be taken kindly. We will not resort to violence, but could not be cowed down by such intimidatory tactics,” he says.
