All Muslims, Christians will associate with RSS some day: Minister Eshwarappa
Bengaluru, Mar 24: Karnataka Minister K S Eshwarappa on Thursday claimed that all Muslims and Christians in the country will associate themselves with the RSS, some day in the future.
The Rural Development Minister's statement came during a discussion in the legislative Assembly, when the Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri used the term "Our RSS" and that a day would come when opposition legislators would also say the same, to which Congress legislators expressed reservation.
It all started when Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah made a reference to the saffron organisation, while speaking about his personal equations with some BJP leaders and Ministers.
"Personal relations are important, then comes party differences- BJP, RSS, Congress and others," the Congress leader said.
To this the Speaker in a lighter note asked Siddaramaiah, "why are you feeling troubled about our RSS?"
As Siddaramaiah was clarifying that he was not speaking by attaching any feelings, Congress MLA Zameer Ahmed Khan asked, "You (Speaker) are saying-'Our RSS'- sitting on that chair?"
To this Kageri responded by saying, "what else, if not our RSS? Yes....it is Our RSS. RSS is ours....Zameer, I'm telling you one thing, if not today some day in the future, in our country, even you will have to say- Our RSS- definitely."
To this, some Congress legislators including Khan said, that day would never come and they would never say it.
Siddaramiah said, he too is opposed to RSS, as 'Manuwad' will get established in this country, because of them.
Intervening, Revenue Minister R Ashoka said, RSS has become "Sarva Vyapi and Sarva Sparshi" (ubiquitous and omnipresent).
"Our country's President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Chief Minister are all from RSS, every one has to accept it now....it is our good fortune," he pointed out, amidst some Congress legislators calling it country's "misfortune".
Minister Eshwarappa said, "All Muslims and Christians in the country, if not today, some day in the future, will become (associate themselves with) RSS. There is no doubt about it."
This statement of the Minister elicited sharp reaction from some Congress legislators.
Taking objection to the Speaker's statement associating himself with RSS, Congress MLA Priyank Kharge, pointing out that he had spoken from the Chair about constitutional values during a debate on constitution last year said, "you had then claimed you are for constitution, now you are saying that you are in favour of RSS."
As he claimed that RSS during protest had burnt the constitution at the Ramlila Maidan in the past, as they wanted 'Manusmriti', the Speaker and BJP members took strong objection to it and asked him not to speak "unwanted wrong things."
"This is not right......if you want to do politics, do it outside," the Speaker told Kharge.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Questioning religious practices will break religion, civilisation: SC in Dawoodi Bohras case
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Thursday remarked that if individuals start questioning certain religious practices or matters of religion before a constitutional court then there will be hundreds of petitions questioning different rituals, leading to the breaking of religions and the civilisation.
The nine-judge Constitution bench is hearing petitions related to discrimination against women at religious places, including the Sabarimala temple in Kerala, and on the ambit and scope of the religious freedom practised by multiple faiths, including Dawoodi Bohras.
The bench comprises Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices B V Nagarathna, M M Sundresh, Ahsanuddin Amanullah, Aravind Kumar, Augustine George Masih, Prasanna B Varale, R Mahadevan and Joymalya Bagchi.
The Central Board of Dawoodi Bohra Community filed a PIL in 1986 seeking the setting aside of a 1962 judgment, which had struck down the Bombay Prevention of Excommunication Act, 1949 -- this law made excommunication of any community member illegal.
The 1962 Constitution bench judgment said, "It is evident from the religious faith and tenets of the Dawoodi Bohra community that the exercise of the power of excommunication by its religious head on religious grounds formed part of the management of its affairs in matters of religion and the 1949 Act in making even such excommunication invalid, infringed the right of the community under Article 26(b) of the Constitution."
Senior advocate Raju Ramachandran, representing a group of reformist Dawoodi Bohras, submitted that a practice which is conducted in response to secular and social actions of an individual cannot be the subject of Constitutional protection under Article 25 of the Constitution and consequently cannot be a ‘matter of religion’ under Article 26 of the Constitution.
Ramachandran told the court that a practice which may have a religious aspect but also significantly and adversely impacts fundamental rights is not immune to restriction under Article 25 of the Constitution or Article 26 of the Constitution.
Responding to the submission, Justice Nagarathna said that if everybody starts questioning certain religious practices or matters of religion before a constitutional court, then "what happens to this civilisation where religion is so intimately connected with the Indian society".
"There will be hundreds of petitions questioning this right that right, opening of the temple, and the closure of the temple. We are conscious of this," she said.
Adding to the response, Justice Sundresh said, "Every religion will break and every constitutional court will have to be closed.
"If the dispute between two entities are allowed then everybody will question everything. In your case there may be a civil wrong committed to you but in another case, another member will say I don't agree. It is regressive. To what extent can we go in a country like ours which is progressive and on the move is the question," he said.
Justice Nagarathna went on that what sets apart India from any other region is that "we are a civilisation" despite having so many pluralities and diversities?
Asserting that diversity is the country's strength, she added, "One of the constants in our Indian society is the relationship of human beings -- man, woman and child -- with the religion."
"Now, how a religious practice or a matter of religion is questioned, where it is questioned, whether it can be questioned, whether it has to be a question within a denomination for a reform or whether the state will have to do or you want the court to adjudicate upon all these aspects. This is troubling us.
"What we lay down, is for a civilisation that is India. India must progress despite all its economy, everything there is a constant in us. We can’t break that constant. That is what is troubling us ," she said.
Ramachandran replied that India is a civilisation under the Constitution and therefore nothing which goes against the grain of constitution can be continued in a civilised society.
He said that's where court's task come in and "it can't throw hands" and say there will be so many petitions.
