The Congress got unexpected support on Saturday in its fight to offset the Anna Hazare-led tirade against the party. Senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi urged the Gandhian to refrain from launching a targeted attack against the Congress.
"A person like Anna shouldn't indulge in negative campaign. He is asking voters to reject Congress candidates. This shouldn't be done. He should, in fact, ask the voters to choose a good candidate from any political party," Joshi told newspersons in Varanasi on Saturday evening. But the RSS - BJP's ideological father - made it clear that it would continue to support Anna. Suresh Soni, sarkaryavah of the RSS, told the reporters that much in Gorakhpur on Sunday.
"Anna's allegation that we are trying to defame him by supporting him is unfortunate. You ask him why he wants to get rid of us," the RSS leader said, adding that "we have decided to keep supporting his crusade against corruption". Earlier, the RSS's chief of publicity, Manmohan Vaidya, had declared that Govindacharya had shared the dais with Anna at Jantar Mantar. "Govindacharya is very much with the RSS," he had said at the Sangh's national executive meeting in Gorakhpur.
Much to Anna's discomfiture, Vaidya's statement only established the allegation levelled by Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh. Talking to reporters after the RSS's three-day national meet ended on Sunday, general secretary Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi expressed surprise at Team Anna member Prashant Bhushan's suggestion that a referendum be held in Kashmir, and accused the advocate of speaking the language of separatists.
He said the Sangh would never agree to a referendum in Kashmir. "Kashmir is an integral part of India. We cannot accept any such suggestion. The people of this country will never agree to it. This is the language and vocabulary of the separatists. It is very surprising that such language has been used (by Bhushan)," Suresh Joshi said. Bhushan was beaten up by some right-wing activists in his chamber in the Supreme Court last week after he advocated a plebiscite in Kashmir.
Though the RSS has criticised Bhushan's stand, it condemned the violence against him. Both the RSS and BJP are in favour of the abrogation of Article 370, which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir. The RSS also says its ultimate aim is to integrate PoK into India. At the RSS conclave in Gorakhpur, the 1994 Parliament resolution in this regard was emphasised.
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