General (Retd) MM Naravane; RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale

New Delhi: Former Army chief General (retd) Manoj Mukund Naravane on Wednesday supported Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale’s stance on better people-to-people contacts between India and Pakistan and said stronger ties between citizens of the two sides can help improve bilateral relations.Read this also ‘India should not close the doors of talks with Pakistan’: RSS general secretary Dattatreya HosabaleHe said common people on both sides of the border “have nothing to do with politics”.“The common people live on both sides of the border, they have the same problems of ‘roti, kapda aur makaan’ (food, clothing and shelter). The common man has nothing to do with politics. When there is friendship between two people, there will be friendship between the two countries too,” Naravane told PTI.The former army chief said, “This is the right thing. People-to-people contact is important.”Naravane’s comments come a day after Hosabale, the second-ranking RSS leader after Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat, said that India should keep the channels of dialogue open with Pakistan.“If Pakistan is trying to carry out Pulwama-like incidents, we will have to respond appropriately as per the situation… At the same time, we should not close the doors. We should always be ready to engage in dialogue,” Hosabale told PTI.He said, “People-to-people ties can reduce India-Pakistan tensions because we have cultural ties and we were once one nation. I strongly believe that civil society contacts will eventually help normalize relations with Pakistan; this should be attempted more now.”Hosabale urged Pakistani players, scientists and civil society members to “move forward” for peace and said the neighboring country’s military “cannot be trusted”.The RSS is the ideological guru of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).Naravane, who served as the Army chief from December 2019 to April 2022, was in the news in February when excerpts from a chapter on the India-China Ladakh crisis, mentioned in his unpublished memoir, were quoted by opposition leader Rahul Gandhi to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi.