New Delhi: Virtually toeing Rahul Gandhi’s
line on Hindu radical groups posing bigger threat, Congress
on Sunday said the links between terrorists and the RSS and its
sister organisations needed to be investigated.
"The Indian National Congress calls upon the government
to tackle this menace in the strongest possible manner and
investigate links between terrorists and the RSS and its
sister organisations that have been uncovered in some recent
cases, the party said in its draft political resolution moved
in the plenary.
The resolution was proposed by senior leader Pranab
Mukherjee and seconded by Digvijay Singh.
The resolution noted that the role of religious
fundamentalist organizations in challenging the security of
the nation can no longer be ignored.
The mention of suspicion of links between RSS and
terrorism in the resolution assumes significance as a
controversy had erupted after Rahul Gandhi`s remarks to US
Ambassador Timothy Roemer about Hindu radicalism being a
bigger threat than terror groups like Lashkar-e-Toiba became
public recently.
"Terrorism, from wherever it comes and whatever form it
takes, must be dealt with firmly and effectively," it said.
Noting that the lifeline of Indian democracy was
secularism, the resolution said it is the very basis of the
country’s polity "that is threatened by the ideology of the
BJP and its affiliate organizations like the RSS, which
spreads hatred and violence.
"The RSS and the VHP are insidious in their effort to
break India," it said.
Maintaining that the "failure to protect all citizens
will cast a shadow over our future", it said the BJP and
RSS-VHP "continue to hide their prejudice and the atrocities
committed by them behind the rhetoric of economic progress and
pseudo-nationalism" and asserted it was imperative that the
Congress and the people "call their bluff".
In an attack on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, it
said "we cannot be indifferent to the plight of our fellow
citizens in Gujarat who have suffered untold misery; by
denying their humanity we will betray our own."
It also congratulated the UPA government for bringing in
the Communal Violence Prevention Bill to prevent such violence
and punish the perpetrators.
On the Ayodhya issue, it said while the Supreme Court
verdict has to be awaited, the perpetrators of the "shameful"
act of demolition of the Babri Masjid should be brought to
justice.
PTI
