New Delhi: BJP MP Manoj Tiwari on Saturday said the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was behind the idea that led to the abrogation of Article 370 and asked what India would have been if the RSS was not there.
Speaking at a book launch here, the MP from northeast Delhi said that the RSS's thinking has not only impacted India but the entire world.
"Sometimes I wonder if the RSS was not there, what would India be like today? Who could have thought that Article 370 would be repealed? When Jammu and Kashmir was given special status, someone must have promised that we would ". "We have two emblems, two prime ministers and two Constitutions in one country," Tiwari said, reciting right-wing ideologue Syama Prasad Mukherjee's popular promise.
The BJP MP added that people may have laughed at the idea then, but they can see the state of the country today.
"The same thought grew like a banyan tree and it was possible to remove Article 370," he said.
Tiwari noted that if people delve into the core of thought, they could see "how thought has impacted not only India but the entire world."
"Today we can worship Lord Sri Ram, there was a time when people were killed with swords and under the feet of horses, they too converted, no one had the right to speak. Who could have thought at that time that the nation rise up 500 years later and correct all the wrongs. The RSS is at the origin of that thought," said the actor-turned-politician.
The 53-year-old also recalled his early days of study at Banaras Hindu University and his chance to be a member of the RSS.
It was when the captain of his cricket team got a ticket from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the RSS student body, that he needed a proponent.
"So he approached me and I said yes. But then he told me that I would have to become a member after getting a receipt of Rs 5. After that I realized it was a completely different world," said Tiwari.
Speaking at a book launch here, the MP from northeast Delhi said that the RSS's thinking has not only impacted India but the entire world.
"Sometimes I wonder if the RSS was not there, what would India be like today? Who could have thought that Article 370 would be repealed? When Jammu and Kashmir was given special status, someone must have promised that we would ". "We have two emblems, two prime ministers and two Constitutions in one country," Tiwari said, reciting right-wing ideologue Syama Prasad Mukherjee's popular promise.
The BJP MP added that people may have laughed at the idea then, but they can see the state of the country today.
"The same thought grew like a banyan tree and it was possible to remove Article 370," he said.
Tiwari noted that if people delve into the core of thought, they could see "how thought has impacted not only India but the entire world."
"Today we can worship Lord Sri Ram, there was a time when people were killed with swords and under the feet of horses, they too converted, no one had the right to speak. Who could have thought at that time that the nation rise up 500 years later and correct all the wrongs. The RSS is at the origin of that thought," said the actor-turned-politician.
The 53-year-old also recalled his early days of study at Banaras Hindu University and his chance to be a member of the RSS.
It was when the captain of his cricket team got a ticket from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the RSS student body, that he needed a proponent.
"So he approached me and I said yes. But then he told me that I would have to become a member after getting a receipt of Rs 5. After that I realized it was a completely different world," said Tiwari.
