“Perhaps for the first time India’s stand was very tough…entire world has seen and acknowledged that China was forced to withdraw,” RSS Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh (chief spokesperson) Manmohan Vaidya said.
Praising the central government for its “tough” handling of the Doklam crisis, RSS today said that it was the first instance that “China was forced to withdraw”. “Perhaps for the first time India’s stand was very tough…entire world has seen and acknowledged that China was forced to withdraw,” RSS Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh (chief spokesperson) Manmohan Vaidya said. He was addressing the media at hotel Kridha Residency of Vrindavan after the three-day Samanvay Baithak of RSS and its affiliate organizations.
Vaidya also “congratulated” the new cabinet, and applauded the government for appointing Nirmala Sitharaman as the defense minister. “It is a good decision…we welcome her,” Vaidya said. Among the organizations who attended the meet included Sanskar Bharti, Sahkar Bharti and Bharatiya Kisan Sangh. Top brass of RSS including Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat, Sarkaryavah Bhaiyyaji Joshi and senior leaders of various organizations remained present for three days. These organizations also supported demonetization during the meet. “Shocks (in economy) were witnessed earlier but now people are coming out of those earlier shocks and are realizing that the decision of demonetization will benefit country in the long run,” Vaidya said.
Significantly, weeks after the note ban, ahead of the Uttar Pradesh polls, several senior RSS leaders of the state had submitted a report to the central leadership that the move caused severe hardships to people. Vaidya noted that the affiliates also shared their observations on ongoing economic situation. “Small and medium scale industries must be promoted for India’s economic growth,” he said, emphasizing that focus should be on “job creation” and “agriculture-based industries”.
Several outfits like Swadeshi Jagran Manch and Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh are learnt to have expressed reservations against economic policies of the government. Vaidya also credited the Indian “family system” for saving its economy. Taking note of a the global recession a few years earlier, he said that “India bore the least impact of economic meltdown” because of its “strong family system”. He also noted that the RSS expressed concern on “Casteism” and it was acknowledged that “the Sangh has to undertake efforts to eradicate it” and “organisations should spread harmony and fraternity” to remove differences”.
Talking about Swadeshi, he said that it “is not limited to consumption of goods”. “Your language, dress, the manner in which you celebrate festivals and birthdays,” he said, adding that the RSS supports the SJM call to boycott Chinese goods.
