Ram Temple, ‘muscular policy’ on Pakistan at heart of RSS outreach

NEWDELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) commitment to fulfilling the demand for the construction of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya and its “muscular policy” on Pakistan-backed terror groups will be the core of outreach by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliates ahead of state assembly elections later this year and the 2019 general elections, according to RSS functionaries familiar with the matter.

The Sangh’s official position is that it maintains a distance from electoral politics and does not actively campaign for any party, but its affiliate BJP relies on the expansive RSS machinery to drum up support.

“The Sangh cadre sheds light on the achievements of the BJP government to help people make an informed choice,” a senior RSS functionary, one of the two cited above, said on condition of anonymity.

Another senior functionary said, also on condition of anonymity, that the government’s policy of not engaging with Pakistan, the decision by external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to cancel a recent meeting with the Pakistan foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, in New York, and the 2016 surgical strikes in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK), will be projected as evidence of the BJP government’s resolve to counter terror emanating from across the border.

“The premise of no talks (with Pakistan) till support to terrorism ends has been taken seriously. The government has shown that while it took the first steps to mend ties, it has not shied away from taking bold steps to protect the territory and the people,” said the second functionary.

Similarly, the crackdown against terror groups operating in Kashmir, a third functionary said, reinforces the government’s intent to usher in peace and development in the strifetorn Valley, and will be highlighted. When asked if the focus on issues such as the Pakistan policy was an attempt to divert attention from some domestic issues — among them demonetisation and the Rafale deal — that the Opposition has used to train its guns at the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the functionaries said that each policy needs to be examined in a “broader sense”.

On the domestic front, the third functionary said, the Sangh will talk about the government’s stand against the Muslim practice of instant Triple Talaq, and the decision to give higher minimum support price to farmers.