The Trinamool Congress,which has become a rallying point of anti-Left forces in Bengal,is hard put to explain the entry into its fold of some hardcore Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) cadres who still continue to attend RSS shakhas and subscribe to the shrill Hindutva ideology. About a month ago,a sizeable number of BJP workers,many of them practising swayamsevaks,joined the Trinamool Congress. They were led by Colonel (Retd) Sabyasachi Bagchi,Shantilal Jain and Debabrta Majumder. But with many of them still attending RSS shakhas,Trinamool leaders are unsure of how to treat them. It is baffling how Didi had accepted them. We believe they will have to eschew the ideals they learnt during their stint with the Sangh, a Trinamool leader said. But the former swayamsevaks say they still stick to the beliefs they have imbibed during their stint with the Sangh. I still attend shakhas and campaign against cow-slaughter. And Mamatadi knows all this. She never told me I could not do this. So far as Hinduvta is concerned,we believe it is a way of life. I cannot shun it. There cannot be any contradiction in attending RSS activities and my work as a Trinamool Congress member, said Jain (60),who has had links with the Sangh for more than 45 years and who became a BJP councillor in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation in 1985. Bagchi,a former state BJP vice-president who has been a swayamsevak for the last 50 years,echoed his sentiments. RSS is a cultural organisation. So there is no bar on being its member even if you become a member of another political party. While RSS teaches us Hinduvta,which is a euphemism for nationalism,Trinamool too is a nationalist party. Mamata knows all our activities and she never raised any objection, he said. All three leaders have been seen with Mamata at various political rallies and meetings. The Trinamool,however,said they have accepted them after they had promised they would shun ideals like Hinduvta. There is no room for Hinduvta in our party. If they are seen deviating from the ideals like secularism as practised by the Trinamool,our party will take action, said Partho Chatterjee,Trinamool secretary general and Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly.
