Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said hoping to reform the RSS through dialogue is akin to washing a leopard to remove its spots.
Pinarayi was reacting to talks held by the prominent Muslim organisation Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) with the RSS in Delhi in January.
Jamaat-e-Islami has been facing widespread flak, even from fellow Muslim organisations. It is being accused of cozying up to the Hindu nationalist organisation.
JIH general secretary T Arif Ali recently said the discussions focused on mob lynching and other issues faced by marginalised sections.
"The Jamaat-e-Islami's argument that dialogue with RSS was essential reveals their hypocrisy. The Jamaat-e-Islami leadership has to provide details of the meeting," Pinarayi said in a social media post.
The CPM leader finds it strange that Jamaat-e-Islami thought it was wise to present the problems of minorities before the "RSS that rules the country".
"Who entrusted the Jamaat-e-Islami to represent the minorities? Regardless of what was discussed at the meeting, it won't help the minorities in the country."
Indian secularism and far-right extremism
Pinarayi claims the meeting of Jamaat-e-Islami with RSS threatens to play to the latter's Hindutva agenda at a time the country's "secular forces were fighting the far-right extremism of Sangh Parivar".
"The protection of minorities means the protection of secularism. Don't these organisations know who is obstructing secularism here? How can minorities and secularism be protected by holding talks with such people?" Pinarayi said.
Pinarayi has been a vocal critic of both RSS and the Jamaat-e-Islami. When he was the CPM state secretary, Pinarayi had infamously equated RSS with the Jamaat-e-Islami. He had said that while "the RSS projects the idea of a Hindu rashtram, the Jamaat-e-Islami puts forward the idea of a Muslim rashtram".
In his latest reaction, Pinarayi said the meeting of RSS and Jamaat-e-Islami was proof of "communal forces aligning to shatter secularism and democratic values".
