Title: 'Protect Bangla Hindus'
Author: Ashutosh Mishra
Publication: The Daily Pioneer
Date: Dec 29, 2001
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/archives1/secon2.asp?cat=\story9&d=FRONT_PAGE&fdnam=dec2901

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief K Sudarshan made it clear on Thursday that he was unhappy with Vajpayee Government's stand on the issue of atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh and called for rehabilitation of the persecuted refugees entering India.

"Instead of calling them infiltrators we should rehabilitate them in refugee camps. After all they are Hindus," he said, adding that if the Government failed to rehabilitate them, thousands of such refugees would continue to enter the country secretly.

Lambasting the incumbent Government in Bangladesh for failing to protect Hindus, Sudarshan called upon India to harden its stance and take up the issue with the United Nations. "We can stop Bangladesh's supply of rice and fish from West Bengal and if that does not work we can withhold the release of Farakka waters," he said, adding that if need be India should also ask for land from its neighbour to rehabilitate the refugees coming into the country.

Addressing a meeting organised to pay homage to late Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, the RSS chief appeared anguished not only by the irony of Hindus facing persecution in a country which India helped liberate from the oppressive clutches of Pakistan but also the fact that the population of Hindus in Bangladesh has come down from 20 per cent to five per cent. "We must tell the UN that Bangladeshi Hindus are coming to India following persecution and the international body should take care of them. That would put pressure on Bangladesh," he added.

The RSS chief, who is here to inaugurate the Amrit Mahotsav at Puri on Friday, was also highly critical of the continuation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, which he described as the root cause of trouble in the Valley.

"The shortsightedness of our first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru resulted in J&K getting a special status which continues to haunt us till date. With the entire attention of the Government concentrated on the Valley, even the people of Jammu and Ladakh are feeling deprived and isolated," he said and deprecated attempts by a section of leaders to portray Article 370 as the symbol of Indian secularism.