Indian Express
RSS show of strength in town where Sunil Joshi lived, died
by Milind Ghatwai
Jan 17 2011, 04:53 hrs Dewas:
Thousands of volunteers, many of them brandishing swords, marched through this town as the RSS flexed its muscles on Sunday. It’s the same town where former RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi, a Hindu radical allegedly involved in several acts of terror, lived and was shot dead by his own men on December 29, 2007.
The RSS maintained that Joshi’s murder and the allegations of saffron terror did not influence the choice of venue but the coincidence raised many eyebrows. The planning began more than two months ago and targets were fixed for every village (for the number of volunteers to be sent).
What helped was that the state is ruled by the BJP. The ruling party members, however, kept away from the event.
According to the Sangh, this was the biggest “path sanchalan” (route march) in the town’s history. Volunteers, drawn from the district, were showered with flower petals by crowds that lined up along the seven-kilometre stretch, shouting “Jai Jai Siyaram”, or “Jai Shivaji Jai Bhavani”, or slogans hailing the 85-year-old organisation’s founders.
The volunteers — which included school-children, retired and serving government officials as well as public prosecutors appointed by the BJP government — had been instructed not to join in slogan-shouting, look straight, and not talk among themselves. But overwhelmed by the enthusiastic response, the volunteers also raised slogans.
The day began with senior RSS leader Suresh Joshi addressing the group. Seated on the stage beside Joshi were Girish Mungi, government pleader and district chief of RSS; K K Asthana, the editor-in-chief of Devputra, a magazine that will soon be compulsory reading for all primary school-children in the state; and Narayan Pande, senior RSS leader from Shajapur.
“Is it right to malign an entire community for some small (“chhoti moti”) incidents,” Joshi asked in his speech, referring to the allegations of the Sangh’s involvement in terror attacks.
“Will anybody be safe if Hindus take to terrorism,” he said, adding that terrorism was never part of Hindu thought. He blamed the allegations on vote-bank politics, and expressed fears that it would weaken the world’s fight against terrorism.
Without naming Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, he criticised the coinage of the term “saffron terror”, saying such allegations are levelled because Hindus are tolerant. “If some people are involved in acts of terror, let the law take its own course.” From Ram temple to Kashmir to Ram Sethu, he touched upon the broad issues taken up by the organisation.
While the young volunteers did not appear too keen to listen to him, they seemed to be in their element when the march later snaked its way through the town.
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