Urge State Department to cancel meetings with RSS spokesman Ram Madhav

August 31, 2006

We have learnt that Ram Madhav, the national spokesperson for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is visiting the United States and is reported to be meeting with State Department officials later this week.

The RSS is an extremist organization founded on the ideals of Italian fascism and Nazism. Members of the RSS and its affiliate organizations (VHP, Bajrang Dal, BJP) were directly responsible for perpetrating genocide and mass rapes of Muslims in Gujarat in March 2002 in which over 2,000 people were killed. The RSS and its sister organizations have consistently used organized violence to intimidate and dis-empower minorities and disadvantaged communities in India since their founding in 1925. The founders of RSS are on record praising Hitler’s policies against the Jews and called for its emulation in India against its minorities. The US State Department itself has dubbed the RSS as a violent extremist organization in its various Human Rights and International Freedom Reports.

A veteran RSS ideologue, Ram Madhav represents the views of RSS and advocates the Hindutva agenda of forced assimilation of minorities and annihilation of those who resist. He has warned of the "very grave threat" posed by the rising Muslim population and similar scaremongering against Muslims by his colleagues is very reminiscent of the Nazi-era witch hunt of Jews.

The Coalition Against Genocide ( CAG), [of which IMC-USA is a founding member,] is protesting the legitimization of RSS by the State Department by allowing top-ranking officials to meet irs spokesperson without criticizing the organization and its violent tactics. Please contact the State Dept and politely convey your concerns about allowing violent extremist organizations to draw mileage from such meetings.

ACTION REQUESTED:

Please call the State Department contacts below and urge them to cancel the meeting with the RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav. Also request them to issue a public statement denouncing the intolerant ideology and policies of the RSS on the occasion of Ram Madhav’s visit:

CALL:

CONTACT

TELEPHONE

Richard A. Boucher

Assistant Secretary of State , Bureau of South Asian Affairs

202-736-4325

Marcia Bernicat

Director for India , Bureau of South Asian Affairs

202-647-1114

Edward M. Alford

Executive Director, Bureau of South Asian Affairs

202-647-3269

Larry Schwartz

Director, Office of Public Diplomacy, Bureau of South Asian Affairs

202-647-8605

FAX:

CONTACT

FAX

Richard A. Boucher

Assistant Secretary of State , Bureau of South Asian Affairs

202-647-2283

Condoleezza Rice

Secretary of State

202-647-2283

TALKING POINTS

* By holding official meetings with the spokesman of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an organization that was responsible for the murder of Gandhi, the recent pogroms against Gujarati Muslims and the constant persecution of Indian Christians, the State Department is unwittingly helping to sanitize the violent politics of the RSS and its affiliate organizations.
* The State Department has itself characterized the RSS in its annual Human Rights and International Religious Freedom reports as an extremist group involved in violence against Christians and Muslims.
* It’s a contradiction of State Department policy to deny an RSS member like Narendra Modi a US visa on the basis of his role in “violating of religious freedoms” while accommodating the spokesperson of the same organization (which preaches such violations) for official meetings. Ram Madhav is listed on the RSS website as its present national spokesperson at the following URL:

http://www.rss.org/New_RSS/Organisation/KARYAKARINI.jsp

* RSS backed BJP-ruled states in India are still persecuting religious and ethnic minorities and were criticized by the US State Department of International Religious Freedom report. Governments in the BJP-ruled states foment hatred, are indifferent to and complicit in violence against minorities, communalize the police force and muzzle the press.
* The RSS has called for the imposition of ban on religious conversion and have already pushed anti-conversion bills in BJP-ruled states.
* The RSS has called for the destruction of over 30,000 mosques in India and demand their conversion into Hindu temples.

REFERENCES:

1. Terrorism Research Center: Profile of RSS
http://www.terrorism.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=TGroups&file=indexα=R

2. International Religious Freedom Report 2004
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2004/35516.htm

3. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2003
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27947.htm

4. RSS has 60 units in the United States
RSS chief wants Christians to set up 'swadeshi' church [Rediff, 7 th Oct 2000]
http://www.rediff.com/news/2000/oct/07rss.htm

5. RSS & Mahatma Gandhi's Assassination
Murder of the greatest Hindu [Communalism Combat, Aug 2004]
http://www.sabrang.com/cc/archive/2004/aug04/cover3.html