Plea in US court to declare RSS terror outfit

JALANDHAR: Days before President Obama's India visit, a US-based rights group has put the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in the dock in New York.
The rights body Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) on Wednesday moved the New York district court, seeking to declare the RSS as a 'Foreign Terrorist Organization' and the court has asked US secretary of state John Kerry to submit a reply within 60 days.
The SFJ had earlier filed a rights violation complaint against Congress president Sonia Gandhi for protecting perpetrators of 1984 anti-Sikh massacre which was later quashed.
The SFJ wants the US to declare RSS as a terror organization "for believing in and practising a fascist ideology and running a passionate, vicious and violent campaign to turn India into a Hindu nation with a homogeneous religious and cultural identity". The case has been assigned to Judge Swain.
The lawsuit comes ahead of US President Obama's India visit to attend the 65th Republic Day celebrations.
The plea has cited 'Ghar Wapsi' programme of Sangh affiliates and compared it to "convert or die" call of Boko Haram, the Nigerian terror outfit.
In support of its arguments, the SFJ also mentions in the plaint demolition of Babri masjid, Gujarat riots of 2002, killing of Mahatma Gandhi by Nathuram Godse apart from the ban imposed on the RSS by the government thrice in the past. It also quoted RSS leaders saying that all Indians were Hindus.
"RSS along with its affiliates and subsidiaries be designated as foreign terror organisations in accordance with Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act and designate RSS as a specially designated global terrorist entity," says the plea.
The complaint also alleges that a movement towards 'Hinduizing India' is being funded by non-profit groups in the United States.
Defending the suit, SFJ's legal advisor Gurpatwant Singh Pannun stated that "minorities were being targeted by RSS with new zeal ever since Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister.