From: sanjiva@ecrc.de (Sanjiva Prasad)
Subject: Article on RSS in India Today
Reply-To: sanjiva@ecrc.de (Sanjiva Prasad)
Organization: European Computer-Industry Research Centre, Munich
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 17:07:58 GMT

In article <1992Aug27.035505.15665@tamsun.tamu.edu> gagrawal@cs.tamu.edu (Gopal Agrawal) writes:
>In article <1992Aug26.184823.15465@ncrcae.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM>, indu@iss700.Columbia.NCR.COM writes:

>|> >The article appeared in the Aug 15,'92 issue of the India Today on page 76
>|> >and was titled : 
>|> 
>|> >I'm not interested in posting the entire article. Its readily available in
>|> >the India Today (Aug 15,'92 edition). 
>|> ----------------------------------------------------------------
>|> UNDERSTANDABLE. 
>|> WHEN YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN PROVIDING THE NECESSARY 
>|> DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE THEN  WHAT DO YOU THINK JUNTA SHOULD DO? TAKE YOUR
>|> access to "INDIA TODAY" as granted and accept all your versions and
>|> interpretations of NEWS as-is basis? 

>That is highly unfair Mr. Indu. Javed has given the full reference to 
>the article. It is not upon him to reprint the whole article here. Do
>you ask your proffessor to type out a whole article from the journals
>and proceedings as proof of what he/she says ?  The proffessor only 
>gives the references. Its upto us to dig it out now and read it. I am 
>not saying that the reference he gave is true or not. I am also not 
>saying that his interpretations are wrong or right. I myself do not 
>have access to Ind.Today. But once he has given the full reference 
>(right upto the page numbers), then I am willing to agree that an 
>article referring to the above matter *most probably* appeared since 
>Mr. Javed does not strike out as kiddish prankster. 
>
>From what he quotes verbatim, it does not seem that Javed is stretching 
>his interpretations. However, there is every possibility that the author 
>(N.K.Singh ?) of this alleged article has stretched his facts and 
>interpretations. May be we should discuss that. 

I have that India Today issue  (Int'l edition) of August 15, 1992.  It has
a photo captioned "VHP's Singhal and BJP's Joshi at Ayodhya kar sewa" and
the cover story is called "BJP   Politics of Opportunism".   I can testify
that Javed has correctly and accurately quoted from N. K. Singh's
article which appears on pages 76-77.   I also add that, if anything,
what Indu calls Javed's "version" -- the coments he made in his initial
posting -- are much more toned down and far less strident than N. K. Singh's 
article.  I was expecting more people to have picked up on this article
-- it paints a really scary picture.

Indu is not merely being unfair, he is being obnoxious, unreasonable and
bigoted.   He also rants at Javed whereas he should be ranting at the
author of the article, N. K. Singh and India Today, for "getting their
facts right" if he feels that there are factual errors.  He went on to
heap vituperative against Muslims in general.  

Now he wants someone to post the entire article and wants everyone to
accept that only his version of relevance is the right one.  Javed did
select the parts of the article that were relevant to showing that he 
was not deliberately misinterpreting what the article contained. 

I can fax you the article, Indu, and *you* type/scan the whole article; 
you pay for the phone bill from Germany.  I don't have the time or 
inclination, to type it in and anyway my services will cost you 40 DM per hour
+ overheads.

I defer my response to the other "points" that Indu raises.  The main reason
for my posting was actually to ask a few questions *about the RSS top 
leadership*. On page 17 of this India Today, there is a paragraph (from an 
essay by Inderjit Badhwar) which goes

	"And ever since the death of Bhaurao Deoras, the tallest of the RSS 
	adhikaris who talked in terms of a larger national interest rather 
	than votes and vote banks, and who could temper runaway fanaticism
	with doses of moderation, the RSS is in the clutches of men like
	Rajju Bhaiyya, H. V. Seshadri and K. P. Sudarshan, who are distant
	and unapproachable."

When did Bhaurao Deoras pass away?  Although I strongly disagreed with his
politics and his socio-cultural agenda for India, he was a moderating force,
who could control the RSS cadres sufficiently and inspire them to perform
services (like after the Andhra cyclone), and insist on a strong (very
conservative, restrictive) discipline.  If I recall correctly, he was a 
freedom fighter in his younger days.  

What is known about the next generation of RSS leaders? Are they men of
the same calibre?  
--
Sanjiva Prasad,  Guest Magician				E-mail: sanjiva@ecrc.de
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