The RSS has revealed its fears before the government about a growing threat to national security in frontier areas of states sharing international borders with Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
A source said three senior leaders of the RSS, the ruling BJP’s ideological mentor, met home minister Rajnath Singh and defence minister Manohar Parrikar in Delhi on Tuesday and shared “facts” that were worrying them. National security adviser Ajit Doval was also present.
RSS general secretary Suresh Bhaiyaji Joshi, joint general secretary Krishna Gopal and central executive council member Indresh, who oversees the Sangh’s Muslim outreach programme, told the top ministers about subversive activities in border areas of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Bengal, Assam and Jammu and Kashmir.
“National security is always high on the RSS’s agenda and it often shares related inputs with the political leadership. There is concern about the changing demographic profile of border areas and some worrisome revelations about activities of madrasas in these pockets. All such issues were discussed,” the source said.
Also on Tuesday, VHP functionary Shiv Narayan Singh briefed Jammu and Kashmir governor NN Vohra about “various important matters of high public interest”. His briefing was based on feedback gained during the course of his travels through the state.
Singh also discussed with the governor the consequences of Pakistan’s stepping up its activities along the Line of Control (LoC), especially the recent incidents of shelling, firing and attempts to push militants into the troubled state.
{{/usCountry}}Singh also discussed with the governor the consequences of Pakistan’s stepping up its activities along the Line of Control (LoC), especially the recent incidents of shelling, firing and attempts to push militants into the troubled state.
{{/usCountry}}A source privy to deliberation between the RSS leaders and the ministers said the previous UPA government was sitting on some “very serious findings” about activities carried out from illegal madrasas or Islamic seminaries in the border districts.
The role of such madrasas came under scrutiny during the Burdwan blasts in West Bengal as investigators raided two seminaries along the Bangladesh border that have allegedly sheltered those involved in the bombings, sources said.
There was also concern over the rise in the number of Muslim people, in accordance with the 2011 religion census data, in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh districts that share a border with Nepal, although the Himalayan nation is a pre-dominantly Hindu nation.