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Civil servants can join RSS

BJP facing pressure

from coalition allies,

opposition

NEW DELHI: India's Hindu nationalists are facing mounting pressure from their ruling coalition allies and the opposition over the lifting of a ban on state employees joining a powerful right-wing Hindu group.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Hindu nationalist BJP party was caught in the eye of a storm on Thursday over its attempts to hush up the controversy, which has virtually paralysed parliament since it opened for the budget session last week.

The furore arose after the local BJP government in the western Indian state of Gujarat issued a directive permitting civil servants to join the RSS, or National Volunteer Corps, a Hindu fundamentalist organisation closely linked to the BJP.

Gujarat witnessed a wave of anti-Christian attacks in 1998, and many independent observers had blamed RSS members for helping incite religious passions.

An incensed opposition, which perceives the RSS as a sectarian outfit, has clamoured for a parliamentary debate on the Gujarat government's decision since last week.

The demand has been repeatedly turned down by the speaker of the lower house of parliament, forcing adjournments of the 545-member legislature every day.

Vajpayee has come under pressure from five regional allies who have warned that if the issue were put to the vote in parliament, they would find it almost impossible to back the government.

The dissident allies are powerful regional groupings from the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, as well as northern Haryana and the eastern state of West Bengal.

The main opposition Congress party believes it has Vajpayee and the BJP cornered on an issue that could seriously destabilise the coalition, which came to power four months ago.

"A debate has to be allowed. The government is not allowing it because they know it has the potential to bring them down," Congress leader Girija Vyas told AFP.

"If it is put to the test, all secular parties including the partners in the ruling coalition, will either vote against the government or abstain," she said.

Vyas said the opposition was determined to bring the government down to its knees.

"We will fight the battle in the streets and in parliament. We are organising a big protest march in New Delhi on Sunday. As far as parliament is concerned, we may go in for a boycott but that will be a last resort."

Political analyst Mahesh Rangarajan said the implications of the controversy could prove fatal for the government.

He said the problem assumed greater significance since the BJP fared poorly in last month's state elections, which were dominated by regional parties, including allies of the central coalition.

A B Bardhan, leader of the opposition Communist Party of India said the government was caught in a bind because all senior leaders, including Vajpayee, were steeped in RSS ideology or were erstwhile members of the outfit.

"The government has already tried to rewrite Indian history in school text books. The RSS is the direct political force behind the BJP.

"Any organisation which espouses a Hindu rashtra (state) and calls for all other Indians to be treated as second-class citizens is not acceptable to the country at large. The BJP should realise that".ÑAFP