RSS declares war on English

Starved of vote-generating issues, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh is trying to hijack a controversy kick-started by its bete noire, Union Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Exactly a month after Mulayam Singh launched his ''throw the English language out of the country'' drive, the RSS has quietly jumped on the bandwagon.

Addressing its Dassera rally in Nagpur at the weekend, RSS chief Professor Rajendra Singh said English was harming India's interests and should be wiped out from the country. ''Because of English, educating our rural folk has become difficult.''

Referring to the alleged payments made by Tata Tea to the United Liberation Front of Asom, Professor Singh said the industrial house had to yield to extortion as the state government failed to provide it adequate security.

Without directly mentioning Tata Tea's name, he said it was no longer a secret that tea companies pay protection money to the militants as internal security has almost collapsed.

Even government officers pay regular instalments of money to the terrorist organisations to save themselves, he claimed.

Ridiculing the Gujral Doctrine, Professor Singh demanded production of the atom bomb.

As for Pakistan, Professor Singh said Islamabad was staging a low intensity war in Kashmir and openly proclaiming its nuclear capabilities. But India had failed to respond positively, he said.

Describing Mulayam Singh as a drum-beater, he said, ''Without doing anything concrete, Yadav keeps saying, 'Our forces are prepared to give a fitting reply.' Why not we make the atom bomb and develop the missiles?''

In his hour-long address, Professor Singh defended Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh's resolve to construct the Ram temple at the disputed Ayodhya site.

''The so-called secularists raised a hue and cry, saying it would disturb communal harmony. Even before the Ram Janambhoomi agitation, there had been outbreaks of communal violence. It is high time that the disputed sites in Ayodhya, Mathura and Varanasi were restored to the Hindus,'' he remarked.

UNI

EARLIER REPORTS:
'We must unshackle our thinking from the clutches of the West'
Mulayam issues Hindi guidelines to shoo away English
We will drive English out of the country, vows Mulayam

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