Chandigarh: Asserting that the activities of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) - a right wing Hindu extremist organisation, is against the interest of India, top Sikh body Akal Takht demanded its immediate ban.
“Yes, it should be banned. I believe what the RSS is doing will create divisions in the country. The statements being made by RSS leaders are not in the country’s interests,” Akal Takht Chief Giani Harpreet Singh said while talking to reporters in Amritsar, according to NDTV.
Singh further said that he believes the RSS’s actions will create divisions in the country. “The statements being made by RSS leaders are not in the country’s interests,” he said.
Singh was referring to the statement by RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat made during his Dussehra speech in Nagpur.
"The vision and proclamation of the Sangh regarding the identity of the nation, social identity of all of us, and the identity of the country's nature, are clear, well-thought-of and firm that Bharat is Hindustan, Hindu Rashtra," Bhagwat said while speaking at the RSS foundation day celebrations.
"Those who belong to Bharat, those who are descendants of Bharatiya ancestors, those who are working for the ultimate glory of nation and joining hands in enhancing peace, respecting and welcoming all diversities, all those Bharatiyas are Hindus," the RSS chief said adding that the Sangh has no objection if some people address the Bharatiya as "Indic".
When pointed out that the RSS was linked to the BJP, Harpreet Singh said: "Then it is not in the country's interests. It will hurt the country and destroy it."
Bhagwat’s statements were earlier condemned by Gobind Singh Longowal, president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) as well.
Terming Bhagwat's assertion that India is a Hindu Rashtra, highly objectionable, Longowal said, "The Constitution gives all citizens religious freedom."
The RSS was banned once during British rule, and then thrice by the post-independence Indian government, first in 1948 when a former RSS member assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, then during the emergency (1975–77), and for a third time after the demolition of Babri Masjid in December 1992.
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