"Any Government Will Have To Accept Our Thinking"

He started with a cautious approach to the Vajpayee government, but new RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan, at his press conference in Nagpur last week, didn't hide his unhappiness on some of the government's economic policies. Later, he spoke of his ideas in

Rajesh Joshi INTERVIEWS K.S. Sudarshan

27 March 2000

You've called for a total change in the Constitution. Do you have an alternative in mind?
Democracy is not a new concept for us. Democratic institutions have been there ever since the Vedic period. Even during that period, the king was elected every two years. And the electorate would be workers, artisans, etc. At that time, there used to be small states. Parampujyaniya Guruji (M.S. Golwalkar) had also spoken about an 'integral constitution' in which the lowest unit would be the all-powerful panchayat.

Are you saying that the structure of grampanchayats should be changed?
In those days, the grampanchayat used to get its mandate from religious scriptures (dharmashastras). Our scriptures have defined what kind of state apparatus we should have. So, grampanchayats had their rights according to the scriptures. What is happening today is that either the central or state governments grants authority to the...

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