'RSS workers free to join any party including Congress'

The RSS workers are free to join any political party including the Congress, but the opposition party does not accept them, senior Sangh functionary Krishna Gopal said today.
Gopal, who was speaking at a panel discussion on a book on the rise of the BJP in the Northeast, said that the Congress never bothered the Sangh in its works in the region.
"The Congress never bothered us in our work during the time of insurgency in Assam. But at the same time, it failed to stop killing of our workers," the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader said.
He was replying to a question whether there was any understanding between the BJP and the Congress during the time of crisis in Assam.

Gopal said that the Sangh never stops its workers from joining the Congress, but the party denies them entry.
"Our workers are free to join any political party including the Congress, but the party does not accept them and closes its doors for the Sangh workers," Gopal said.

He further said the opposition parties not only reject them but criticise and ridicule them for their ideological commitment.
This push them towards the like-minded political outfits, he said.
Gopal, a joint general secretary of the RSS, was participating in the panel discussion on the book, 'The Last Battle of Saraighat', written by Rajat Sethi and Shubhrastha, fellows of India Foundation.