Bhagwat's comment on army 'misrepresented': RSS

The RSS on Monday said its chief Mohan Bhagwat's controversial comment in Bihar on the Indian Army's preparedness for a war was being "misrepresented" as he never compared the army with his organisation.

An RSS statement said that Bhagwat told a gathering in Muzaffarpur on Sunday that in case of a war the Indian Army would take six months to prepare the society whereas RSS volunteers can be trained in three days because "Swayamsevaks practise discipline regularly".

"This was no way a comparison between the Indian Army and the Sangh swayamsevaks but it was a comparison between general society and swayamsevaks. Both are to be trained by the Indian Army only," RSS spokesperson Manmohan Vaidya

said.

The RSS chief, who is in Bihar on a 10-day visit, was on Sunday quoted as saying that the RSS has the ability to prepare an army to fight for the country within three days, if such a situation arises and the Constitution permits.

"The Sangh will prepare within three days which the Army would do in 6-7 months. This is our capability. Swayamsevaks will be ready to take on the front if the country faces such a situation and the Constitution permits," Bhagwat told RSS workers at Zila school ground in Muzaffarpur.

"The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is not a military organisation, but we have discipline like the military. If the country requires and the country's Constitution allows, the RSS is ready to fight on the borders against the enemy," he said.

--IANS

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