RSS opposes minority status for Jain community

mangaloretoday.com / Indian Express

Bangalore | March 10, 2014: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on the last day of its annual meeting opposed the move by the UPA government to accord minority status to the Jain community stressing that the community is essentially Hindu.

Speaking at the conclusion of the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha, RSS general secretary Suresh Bhayyaji Joshi said Jains are not separate from Hindu culture.

 

“Sangh has already said it does not support any move to divide the society as majority and minority. Jains are a part and parcel of the Hindu ethos, history and culture. Few of our traditions and rituals might be different but every culture of this land are Hindu,’’ the RSS general secretary said.

The RSS functionary was reacting to the UPA government’s move to declare Jains as a minority community. In the course of the three meeting of its members, the RSS has charted out a plan for the coming year. Over 1,400 RSS functionaries who were elected by the local karyakartas across India attended the meeting along with RSS chief Mohan Bhagawat.

Issues like homosexuality and live-in relationships were discussed in the meeting, but no resolutions were passed. “These are a danger to the culture. To make a law on these issues government has to consult the opinion of saints and sanyasis,” Suresh Joshi said.

The degradation of family morals and counselling to prevent marriage divorces across the country had also been discussed. When asked about the recent controversy between Modi and Murli Manohar Joshi over contesting from Varanasi, he said: “BJP is capable of solving its own issues.”

About Aam Aadmi Party’s performance in the next election, he said that RSS is willing to work with anyone who wants to make India corruption-free. The RSS functionary said that the meeting was keen to condemn the attack on Mata Amritanandamayi in a book called ‘Holy Hell’.The RSS had also a statement on their strategy to spread itself among the North-Eastern states by carrying the message of a woman freedom fighter from Manipur in those states.