But more than that, the attitude betrays cowardice, the rush to protect institutional interests and the sickness that seeks power, wealth and limelight. What is most depressing is to say: 'They run the government, and so let us be with them.' It legitimizes a right-wing group. They will be sidelined to nominal positions, if they win a parliamentary seat or two, and will be forced to toe the official line. For one, Christians - a numerical minority in vast parts of India - would not get any influential positions or ministerial berths. The hope that working with the RSS would help influence government policies are too ambitious. God saves the Christian who believes collaboration with the RSS is possible for him. Christians 'should subordinate their exclusive claims for final and sole revelation vis-a-vis the national society,' asserts Glwalker in his book. More essentially, the existential concept of Christianity such as evangelization and conversion are totally unacceptable to them. The book gave the RSS its underpinning philosophy that saw it grow to a 6-million strong member organization having some 51,400 branches across India. Golwalker (1906вЂ“1973) lists Muslims, Christians and Communists as a prime 'threat to the nation' in his book, Bunch of Thoughts. The 90-year-old organization's second chief, M.S. The genesis and growth of the RSS is based on hate. Indian Catholics pray during at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in New Delhi in this 2010 file photo. The seeming logic of collaboration could work only if Christians accept these cultural basics of the RSS. The culture they stress also denies gender equality and accepts the caste system that sees poor caste people as sub-human. They make demands on the lifestyles of people including food habits and dress. They accept only Hindu culture and despise all other cultures and cultural habits. The RSS no doubt is a cultural organization, but they have a fanatic view about things. These arguments are fine as arguments, but the history of India and its religious minorities would prove that such premises stand on shaky ground. They argue that having more moderates and Christians within these groups may neutralize the hard-line and anti-Christian views.Д«esides, and more importantly, the RSS runs the government and joining forces with them would be a sure way to influence government polices in favor of Christian interest, they argue. Some Christians believe collaboration, not confrontation, is the way ahead. Media interpreted this as a softening of the Christian stand against hard-line Hindu groups. 'We too have the lotus and the oil lamp' the political symbols of the BJP 'as symbols placed on our church logo,' he said. Kerala-based Mar Thoma Church's Metropolitan Joseph Mar Thoma addressed a gathering for the newly elected BJP state president in January and said he found similarities between his church and the BJP. Some church leaders in Kerala for example are cut off from the realities faced by Christians elsewhere. The BJP and RSS have also made inroads into another traditional Christian stronghold state of Kerala. In Goa, a former Portuguese colony, Catholic politicians are part of the BJP government that runs the state. Christians are socially and politically influential here, unlike in the rest of India, where they are mostly indigenous people and those from the so-called lower-caste origin. Most Christians who support the idea of collaboration with the RSS and BJP live in south and southwestern India where traditional Christianity has its roots in the upper classes.

Rashtriya swayamsevak