RSS Leader Indresh Kumar Contends 'Evil Forces in Kashmir Will be Defeated by Divine Power'

New Delhi: Pakistan has done evil things in Kashmir but ultimately the "evil forces would be defeated by the 'khudai taqat' (divine power)", senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar told a gathering of Kashmiri youth.

Kumar said "Kashmir, Kashmiri and Kashmiriyat is an 'ilm' (knowledge) and no one can denigrate that.

"I have seen Kashmir from Jammu to Ladakh, from Doda to Rajouri, and I can tell you that guns don't give lives but take lives. It doesn't educate you but snatches your education. It doesn't give you comfort but fear," he said at the conference of Kashmiri students organised by Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM), an RSS affiliate.

"Pakistan has bedeviled its own soil and has done evil things in Kashmir. But, ultimately evil forces would be defeated by the divine power ('khudayi taqat'), which the Kashmiris are followers of," Kumar said.

Violent protests for months last year had hit hard normal life and resulted in shutdown of schools and death of 86 people in the wake of killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.

The manch, set up in 2012 with Kumar as 'marg darshak', seeks to bring the Kashmiri youth "to the mainstream", with the RSS leader asserting that "Kashmir is for all Indians and rest of India for all Kashmiris."

"The tricolour was there in Kashmir and it will be there in Kashmir... Also, Indians go to Kashmir and bring tourism and prosperity there, and Kashmiris should go to any part of India, get skilled and contribute to the growth of the state and the country," Kumar added.

The RSS leader said the conference would be a beginning for a new chapter, and people would "script a new Kashmir and a new India".

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who could not attend the programme, sent a message which was read out by a senior official at the conference.

"Programmes like this conference would enhance interaction of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of India and promote brotherhood among people. We are committed to development of Jammu and Kashmir, and the Rs 80,000-crore package announced by the Centre last year, is being implemented and monitored duly.

"But, development cannot take place when we are amid separatist and destructive forces. I urge people there to not be misled by those, but walk with us," Singh said in his message.