New Delhi
11 August 2005
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is a threat to the idea
of India as a secular state, says a United States-based think tank in a report titled
"Exploring Religious Conflict".
New Religious Movements (NRMs) such as the RSS are "almost always offshoots,
however bizarre, of major religious traditions [and] have also emerged as sources of
violence", it reads.
"NRMs can be found in Hinduism (RSS), Israel (Gush Emunim), Christianity (the US-
based Identity Movement) and Islam, including Al Qaeda, a global network with
a transcendent vision that draws support in the defense of Islam," it reads.
Stating that the "religious view [of RSS], with its cosmic dimension, remains a threat to
the idea of India as a secular state", the report says the RSS has the characteristics of
an NRM, namely a high degree of tension between the group and its surrounding society
and a high degree of control exercised by leaders over their members.
"It espouses a strong and militant religious philosophy based on exclusivity and hate.
The RSS [was] engaged in violence, particularly against what it viewed to be threats
against the Hindu state, namely Muslims and Christians," it states.
While acknowledging that no movement with its origins in Christianity, Judaism,
Hinduism or any other religion has disrupted international security to the extent Islamic
extremism has done and will continue to do, the report nevertheless mentions that the
rationale for religiously motivated violence exists in Hinduism.
The task force was mandated to probe religious motivations in international politics,
what may cause violence with religious roots and how states have sought to take
advantage of or contain religious violence.
Taking a leaf out of India's experience in containing religious violence, the report
observes that a "limited and localised response can help keep cosmic war from
spreading".
One example, say the authors, of such an approach is India's battles with Sikh political
separatists and religious extremism where the government succeeded in containing the
violence within one region.
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