RSS doesn't run Modi government: Paswan

The RSS doesn't run the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is "a man of action", Consumer Affairs and Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said Wednesday.

Modi's only agenda was development, Paswan told the media here.

"I have served under a few prime ministers and I respect all of them," he said. He said there was no interference from anyone in the working of his department.

"There is no such thing that the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh) is running the government," Paswan said, referring to the BJP's ideological parent. "It's Modi who is the prime minister and he is in charge of the government."

He said the central government had got nothing to do with issues like religious conversions blamed on rightwing Hindu groups.

"The development of the country is the main issue before the government," he said.

But Paswan added that no forcible religious conversion was going on in the country.

"As long as people give up their religion on their own, that is not a crime," the Lok Janshakti Party leader said.

Paswan also ridiculed the attempts by the erstwhile Janata Pariwar to merge in the wake of the Lok Sabha election that virtually wiped them out.