Tag: Indresh Kumar

  • Indresh Kumar, the maverick RSS leader who speaks his mind

    The speculation about differences between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its mother organisation the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) over the BJP’s low performance in the Lok Sabha elections is now gaining ground with a top RSS leader offering his unique interpretation of the election results.

    Indresh Kumar, a member of the national executive of the RSS, has said that the BJP was restricted to 240 seats, well below the majority mark, due to its arrogance. Referring to the INDIA bloc of opposition parties, he said, “And those who had no faith in Ram, they together were stopped at 234.” Indresh’s comment comes right after the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said three days ago that a true sevak (the one who serves the people) never shows arrogance and always maintains decorum in public life.

    Also Read: RSS leader Indresh Kumar slams BJP, says ‘those who became arrogant were stopped at 241 by Lord Ram’While these two statements that refer to arrogance will fuel the speculation about a rift between the RSS and the BJP, there is nothing new about the statements because the RSS has always been known for expressing its differences with the BJP.

    On Narendra Modi becoming the Prime Minister for the third time, Indresh Kumar had said on June 9, “Today, the rarest of the rare is happening. It has become possible which seemed impossible. That’s why I extend my best wishes.”

    Indresh, the maverickWhile a number of RSS leaders often express their independent views, Indresh is particularly known to speak his mind. In 2015, the RSS leadership was annoyed with him for “unauthorisedly” wading into a political row over then foreign minister Sushma Swaraj helping Lalit Modi when the former IPL boss was wanted by law. Swaraj, who was under pressure from opposition to resign after admitting that she helped Lalit Modi, found support from Indresh who defended her and said she had never compromised on nationalism and patriotism.Sources in the RSS had told TOI that Indresh’s statement reflected his personal view, and he should have refrained from articulating it without sanction from the leadership. The RSS sources said the leadership’s annoyance with Indresh was not over the content of what he said, but the fact that he chose to dwell on the matter at all. The remark ran contrary to RSS’s steadfast insistence on being an apolitical organisation which did not interfere with the “routine matters” of the BJP.In 2014, Indresh spoke on the controversy about Gopal Subramanium, a former solicitor-general, withdrawing his consent for a Supreme Court judgeship alleging that the NDA government was engaged in a smear campaign against him. “Do not indulge in character assassination of individuals by using agencies and media” Indresh said.

    In 2017, Indresh stoked a row by saying that Bhagat Singh was a “bigger” follower of non-violence than Mahatma Gandhi, who he claimed could have averted partition of the country. Speaking at a function, he said, “The definition of ‘ahimsa’ (non-violence) is very different from what has been told to us. Non-violence does not only mean shunning of violence, but it also means attacking to defend oneself from a demon. Bhagat Singh made the demons (British) realise that they were wrong, and his act of throwing a bomb in assembly was not to kill anyone. But what he suffered afterwards was actually an act of violence at the hands of the British.”

    Indresh’s controversial pastIndresh was linked to the 2007 Ajmer bomb blast case during the UPA government and was probed by investigation agencies. A bomb blast on October 11, 2007 at the dargah of Khawaja Moinuddin Chisti at the time of Roza-Iftaar had left three pilgrims dead and 15 injured. The case was handed over to Rajasthan Police ATS and later transferred to the NIA, which re-registered the case on April 6, 2011. He was also questioned by the CBI in connection with the 2007 blast at Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad.

    In 2017, the NIA submitted a closure report in the case, giving a clean chit to Indresh and other accused including Sadhvi Pragya, saying no prosecutable evidence was found against them.

    After his acquittal, he said the people who coined the word “Hindutva terror“ have committed a “sin“, an “unpardonable act and they have to pay a price for this“. In a conversation with ET, he had said that there had been no case against him and that his name was not in the FIRs lodged.

    The man behind Sangh Parivar’s Muslim outreachIndresh Kumar is the margadarshak (guide) of the Muslim Rashtriya Manch, a Muslim organisation supported by the RSS and has been leading the Sangh Parivar’s outreach to the Muslim community. He has said that 99 per cent Muslims in India are “Hindustani” by their ancestry, culture, traditions and motherland. He has also supported the view expressed by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in the past that Indians have common ancestors, hence their DNA is common.

    Indresh had said in 2020 that no maulana has ever helped Muslims like Modi has. Speaking at an event on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), he said, “When Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office in 2014, some people claimed that Muslim colonies will be destroyed and they will be deprived of jobs and other facilities. Today, six years have passed and nothing bad has happened to Muslims. In fact, Muslims were given gas connections and other facilities. No maulana has ever helped Muslims like Modi has. The fear being spread in the name of CAA is ridiculous and wrong.”

    Indresh belongs to Kaithal in Haryana and has studied mechanical engineering at the Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh. In 2019, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Urdu, Arabi~Farsi University in Lucknow awarded Indresh an honorary doctorate in literature at its convocation.

    (With inputs from TOI)

  • RSS leader Indresh Kumar slams BJP, says ‘those who became arrogant were stopped at 241 by Lord Ram’

    Jaipur: In hard-hitting remarks on the outcome of the Lok sabha polls, RSS leader Indresh Kumar on Thursday slammed the ruling BJP for “arrogance” and the opposition INDIA bloc for being “anti-Ram”. Speaking at the ‘Ramrath Ayodhya Yatra Darshan Poojan Samaroh’ at Kanota near Jaipur, the RSS national executive member did not mention the rivals by name but suggested that the poll outcome reflected their attitudes.

    “The party which did the bhakti (of lord Ram) but became arrogant was stopped at 241 but it was made the biggest party,” he said, in an apparent reference to Narendra Modi-led BJP which got 240 seats in the Lok Sabha seats.

    “And those who had no faith in Ram, they together were stopped at 234,” he said, apparently referring to the INDIA bloc. “See the ‘Vidhan’ of Ram Rajya in democracy; those who did ‘Bhakti (worshipped) of Ram but gradually turned arrogant, that party emerged as the biggest party, but the vote and power that should have been given was stopped by God due to their arrogance,” he said.

    “Those who opposed Ram, none of them was given power. Even all of them together were made number two. God’s justice is true and enjoyable,” he said.

    He said lord Ram does not discriminate and does not punish. “Ram does not make anyone lament. Ram gives justice to everyone. He gives and will keep on giving. Lord Ram was always just and will remain so,” he said. Kumar also said Lord Ram protected people and did good to Ravana too.

    The remark came days after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said that a true ‘sevak’ does not have arrogance and serves the people by maintaining ‘dignity’.

  • Caste and religion should not be linked to terror: Senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar claimed on Saturday that the erstwhile Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government applied all its might to implicate him in cases of so-called saffron terror but failed.

    He was addressing an international conference jointly organised by the RSS-affiliated Muslim Rashtriya Manch, Vishwagram and the Forum For Awareness of National Security to deliberate on “Global Terrorism Vs Humanity, Peace and Possibilities”.

    At its conclusion, the day-long conference passed a resolution demanding that the government ban linking of caste or religion to terror and declare it a punishable offence under the law.

    “Caste and religion should not be linked to terror as such linking is exploited by those perpetuating terrorism. It should be banned and made punishable offence under the law. Exploitation of anybody in the name of religion and caste must be stopped, condemned and punished under the law,” Kumar said during the passage of the resolution.

    He also appealed to political parties to rise above vote bank politics and “say no to this crime”.

    “The Government of India (when UPA was in power) spent Rs 300-400 crore in the name of ‘bhagwa’ (saffron) terror case against me.

    Even after deploying the entire government machinery, they could not get my name listed as accused…The poor government was then voted out (in 2014 Lok Sabha elections),” he said.

    “My name did not figure in the list of either witnesses or accused. But the entire world was told that Indresh ji was involved, that there was a case against him. I have seen such a big lie…,” he added.

    Referring to this episode, the RSS leader exhorted the participants not to fear raising their voice against what is wrong.

    “When you are honest and standing by the truth and humanity, no body on earth can do any harm to you.”

    Noting that there won’t be any jihad, lynching or communal riots if people pay respect to each other’s religion, the international conference in its resolution also demanded that the United Nation declare acts of condemning others’ religion a crime at global level.

    While moving the resolution for its passage, Kumar raised objection to the categoriation of religions as minority and majority in India, calling it “a peculiar situation”.

    “Religion is for the development of human being, to instill humanity in human beings. Categorising religion as minority and majority is itself inhuman and a mischief. This is basically vote bank politics,” he said.

    Such categorisation of religion should not continue as “it has divided our country”, he said.

    Addressing the conference, senior BJP leader and former Union minister Prakash Javadekar listed the steps taken by the Narendra Modi government against terrorism, saying the situation has changed in past seven years.

    “See what has changed since 2014. Earlier, we witnessed series series of terror incidents, bomb blasts in Delhi, Assam, Jaipur, Pune were happening. In the last seven years, you have not heard of such news barring some places in northeast and Kashmir,” he said Maoist violence has also gone down, he said “Stone pelting doesn’t happen now because their funding has stopped…India showed its capability in Balakot surgical airstrike. Pakistan is now realising that nothing can be done,” he said.

    The conference resolved to work on the ground to ensure peace and harmony among people belonging to various religions in the country.

    The conference, which was organised in both online and physical mode, was attended by Union Minister V K Singh and Governor of Kerala Arif Mohammed Khan, vice chancellors and professors of various universities, former diplomats among other dignitaries.

  • RSS ideologue Indresh Kumar calls for population control law

    By ANI
    RANCHI: The growing population is a challenge for India and the world and there is a need to control the population irrespective of religions, said Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) ideologue Indresh Kumar on Sunday.

    Speaking at a programme in Jharkhand’s capital, Kumar said, “the resources that the environment gave on this earth are limited to what they were before, but the population has increased manifold.”

    “Currently India has 16.5 per cent of the global population but has only 3.5 per cent land. India has lesser landmass and more population,” he said.

    Citing the example of scarcity of jobs in the country, Kumar said, “the number of jobs is same as they were before, but due to increase in population there is a scarcity of employment now.”

    He said not only the government but the total political system and parties should take cognizance of the population control.

    He added that Indira Gandhi’s government which had a complete majority tried to bring the law of ‘two-child policy’ which was also supported by the opposition, “due to their vote bank policies, they failed to implement it.”