Banning RSS is a Congress ploy, feels BJP

The demand by members of the Congress party to ban the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and which received implicit support from law minister M Veerappa Moily, is being perceived as an attempt to deflect the opposition’s heat on the various scams that have bedevilled the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for much of the last few months.

Moily on Saturday declared that the role of institutions in fostering militancy needs to be looked into.

“There is a serious need to look into the activities of some institutions that are training people to turn them into militants,” he said.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) officials believe the Congress’ demand for a ban on the RSS is nothing more than a desperate attempt to turn off the spotlight from the corruption charges it is facing on the 2G spectrum, Commonwealth Games, and Adarsh Housing Society scams.

The confusion for the Congress was further worsened after telecom minister Kapil Sibal claimed that the country suffered no loss while allocating spectrum, a statement that has been derided by the BJP and others.

Moily’s spoke a day after Congress party spokesman Shakil Ahmed had asked the UPA to act against the RSS and is being seen as an attempt to carry forward the debate on whether or not the RSS should be banned. Ahmed had demanded a ban on the RSS after one of its activists, Swami Assemanand, reportedly confessed to his involvement in the Samjhauta Express train blast.

Moily said he was well aware of the kind of training given by some of the institutions in India that turn people into militants.