RSS seeks probe into conspiracy to defame Sangh

NEW DELHI: At a time when the RSS seems to be under the scanner for its links to incidents of saffron terror, the Sangh has written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying there is a "political conspiracy" to defame and destabilise the organisation and has urged the government to initiate an independent probe into the conspiracy.

Sangh leader Suresh (Bhaiyaji) Joshi, in a letter to the PM, said, "we have reason to believe that in the last four to five years, there is a political conspiracy to destabilise RSS and an independent enquiry should be instituted to look into it."

The RSS sahkaryavah (Joshi), in the letter, said people like Srikant Purohit and Dayanand Pandey, who have been seen as principal actors in terror cases like the Malegaon blast or the Samjhauta case "have been planning to kill RSS chief Mohan Rao Bhagwat and Sangh members like Indresh Kumar" and there is enough "evidence with the Maharashtra ATS" on that.

The Maharashtra ATS also has evidence of people like Purohit and Pandey bad mouthing the Sangh, the letter stated. "But no enquiry has been initiated against them, whereas there are attempts to link them (Purohit, Pandey and such other people) to RSS and defame the organisation."

This is the first time that the Sangh that calls itself a nationalist organisation has asked the government to take action against people who are being named for acts of "saffron terror," and there is a clear attempt to distance such elements from the Sangh.

While BJP and Sangh leaders have been trying to distance themselves from people like Purohit or Pandey for a while now, the letter to the PM seems to be a cautious step towards clearing itself from being linked to subversive activities in the country.