Congress slams RSS, says Kesari article exposes ‘anti-Christian stance’
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Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress on Sunday launched a sharp attack on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), accusing the Hindu nationalist organisation of exposing its “anti-Christian stance” through an article published in its Malayalam mouthpiece Kesari.
AICC general secretary K. C. Venugopal alleged that the “ulterior motive” of the article was to spread hatred in society and portray Christians as “enemies of the country” in the name of religious conversion. “We want to know whether the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is prepared to reject the stance adopted by the RSS in the article against the minority community,” he said in a hard-hitting statement.
Taking a swipe at the Sangh Parivar, Venugopal compared its professed love for Christians to the ‘blue fox’ of fable, which, he said, “cannot stop howling no matter how much it is painted”. “The RSS, which has become accustomed to spewing venom against minorities, is declaring through the article that it will continue its practice until its last breath,” he charged.
The Congress leader also referred to the recent arrest and release of two Catholic nuns from Kerala in Chhattisgarh, saying the true faces of those who took photographs with them — including the state BJP chief — had been “exposed” by the article. He urged the people of Kerala to remain vigilant against what he called the “blind anti-minority sentiments” of Sangh Parivar organisations.
The Congress criticism came two days after the publication of an article by E. S. Biju, state vice-president of the right-wing outfit Hindu Aikyavedi, in Kesari. Titled “Aagola Mathaparivarthanathinte Nalvazhikal” (“The Timeline of Global Religious Conversion”), the piece targets the Christian community over alleged religious conversions in the country.
Citing the recent arrest of the two Catholic nuns in Chhattisgarh on charges of religious conversion and human trafficking, the article accused Kerala’s political and religious leadership of trying to “foster religious and emotional conflict with a specific agenda”. It went on to question the essence of the Indian Constitution, claiming that “the current situation in the state is that there is one justice for minority religions and another for the majority”, even though “the rules of the country are equal for everyone”.
According to the article, “if conversion is the right of religious forces, resistance against it is the right and duty of Hindus”. It added that the “strange situation” prevailing in the country must be changed, which would require amending the Constitution. “The demand today is that religious conversion should be banned by law to ensure protection for the entire population of the country,” it said.
With PTI inputs