PATNA: US President Barack H Obama's India visit has put the RSS, BJP and JD(U) in Bihar in a paradoxical situation. The RSS here has been critical of Obama for not mentioning Pakistan in his address to the survivors of 26\11 at the Hotel Taj in Mumbai on Saturday.
On the other hand, a section of the state JD(U) leadership is critical of Obama's visit because former defence minister George Fernandes had been frisked during his visit to the US. In contrast, the BJP parliamentarians seem to have taken no note of the RSS's critical stance towards the Obama visit and would attend the joint session of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha that the US president is scheduled to address on Monday.
"President Obama is our state guest. He will address the joint session of the Parliament on Monday. I have been an MP for three terms. It is my responsibility to hear the US president when he addresses the joint session of the Parliament," said BJP national spokesman and the party's Bhagalpur MP Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, adding: "I have decided to hear his address not because his middle name carries Hussain, but because he is a symbol of something bigger than that."
For Shahnawaz, Obama is a person who was born in a poor Black family, and yet, by the virtue of his geniality, affable nature, education and inborn leadership qualities, rose to become the US president by people's choice. "He is a symbol of social justice," Shahnawaz said.
Incidentally, JD(U) national spokesman and Rajya Sabha member Shivanand Tiwari has his own reservations about Obama's visit, though he qualified it as his personal opinion and not that of his party. He would not attend the joint session of the Parliament that the US president would address.
Incidentally, the Left parties took out a rally in Delhi on Saturday. They carried posters and placards that said "Obama Go Back". Observers here felt that in the state that is having elections for the assembly, the Left legislators, if elected to the House in a significant number, could play an important role in government formation, and, therefore, a section of the JD(U), by criticizing the Obama visit, is keeping the windows to the Left open.
Still more curiously, on Sunday, state Sanghachalak of the RSS Shatrughan Prasad saw in the Obama visit a renewal of the pre-1946 "convergence of western imperialism, Muslim League", since the US President, in his address to the survivors of the 26\11 terror attack in Mumbai, had not mentioned Pakistan as a sponsor of the cross-border terrorism into India. He said that the Left too had supported the pre-1946 "convergence" of the imperialist powers that ultimately led to the division of the country.
"We have been facing such attacks since 1989-90. Terrorists have formed an all-India network in India. Pakistan should have been mentioned," the senior RSS functionary of the state said. Incidentally, the RSS has planned to organize state-wide sit-in protests on November 16 against the use of words and phrases like "saffron terror" and "Hindu terror".
"The use of such words is aimed at maligning the RSS, which is the biggest social and cultural organisation in the country," Prasad said.
On the other hand, a section of the state JD(U) leadership is critical of Obama's visit because former defence minister George Fernandes had been frisked during his visit to the US. In contrast, the BJP parliamentarians seem to have taken no note of the RSS's critical stance towards the Obama visit and would attend the joint session of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha that the US president is scheduled to address on Monday.
"President Obama is our state guest. He will address the joint session of the Parliament on Monday. I have been an MP for three terms. It is my responsibility to hear the US president when he addresses the joint session of the Parliament," said BJP national spokesman and the party's Bhagalpur MP Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, adding: "I have decided to hear his address not because his middle name carries Hussain, but because he is a symbol of something bigger than that."
For Shahnawaz, Obama is a person who was born in a poor Black family, and yet, by the virtue of his geniality, affable nature, education and inborn leadership qualities, rose to become the US president by people's choice. "He is a symbol of social justice," Shahnawaz said.
Incidentally, JD(U) national spokesman and Rajya Sabha member Shivanand Tiwari has his own reservations about Obama's visit, though he qualified it as his personal opinion and not that of his party. He would not attend the joint session of the Parliament that the US president would address.
Incidentally, the Left parties took out a rally in Delhi on Saturday. They carried posters and placards that said "Obama Go Back". Observers here felt that in the state that is having elections for the assembly, the Left legislators, if elected to the House in a significant number, could play an important role in government formation, and, therefore, a section of the JD(U), by criticizing the Obama visit, is keeping the windows to the Left open.
Still more curiously, on Sunday, state Sanghachalak of the RSS Shatrughan Prasad saw in the Obama visit a renewal of the pre-1946 "convergence of western imperialism, Muslim League", since the US President, in his address to the survivors of the 26\11 terror attack in Mumbai, had not mentioned Pakistan as a sponsor of the cross-border terrorism into India. He said that the Left too had supported the pre-1946 "convergence" of the imperialist powers that ultimately led to the division of the country.
"We have been facing such attacks since 1989-90. Terrorists have formed an all-India network in India. Pakistan should have been mentioned," the senior RSS functionary of the state said. Incidentally, the RSS has planned to organize state-wide sit-in protests on November 16 against the use of words and phrases like "saffron terror" and "Hindu terror".
"The use of such words is aimed at maligning the RSS, which is the biggest social and cultural organisation in the country," Prasad said.
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