New Delhi: Breaking the silence of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on the Kashi Vishwanath and Krishna Janmabhoomi temple disputes, Sunil Ambekar, the organisation’s Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh (media and publicity chief), has said that “movements are legitimate” and should be decided in the courts, “like Ayodhya”.
Speaking exclusively to ThePrint, Ambekar said: “It is true that many of our ancient temples were attacked by invaders; they looted the temples and destroyed them. Some of them are very important and sensitive to us. One of them is Ayodhya, and others include Kashi and Mathura. Hindu sentiments are attached to such temples and it is an emotional thing.”
The RSS has so far kept a distance from its affiliate, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s, push to “reclaim” the “original” sites of ancient temples, which it claims were destroyed by Muslim invaders and replaced by mosques.
In a wide-ranging interview, Ambekar also spoke about the need for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC), Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s, “population control” programme, and the “inclusive” agenda of the Sangh. On Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s outreach efforts to Pasmanda Muslims, Ambekar said that the RSS thought of all Indians as part of “a larger Hindu community”.
When asked about the protests in several states against the Centre’s Agnipath scheme to recruit jawans into the military on four-year contracts, with only 25 per cent going on to get permanent posts, Ambekar said that it was important to encourage entrepreneurship among youth, so that they became “job-makers” rather than “takers”.
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‘Judiciary should take a call on Kashi-Mathura’
Back in 2019, the Supreme Court decided the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute in Ayodhya in favour of Hindu petitioners. According to Ambekar, the dispute over the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi and the Shahi Idgah in Mathura should also be settled through legal means.
“There are legal ways to get the worshipping [for Hindus] right back. It is a legitimate movement. Let the society and the people participate,” Ambekar said. “The Ayodhya issue was settled by the court, in these cases, we will also want the judiciary to take a call and everyone should accept it,” he added.
A Mathura court is currently hearing a bunch of suits for the removal of the Shahi Idgah Masjid from near the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple in Mathura. A legal battle is also ongoing over the right of Hindus to worship at the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi’s Kashi-Vishwanath temple complex.
‘There should be population control’
In the wake of UP CM Adityanath’s controversial remarks this month about the need to address a “demographic imbalance” in India and his population policy, unveiled in 2021, to bring down the fertility rate of the state, Ambekar said that there was a need for people to be “responsible”.
“Population management policies are being discussed across countries and across societies. We, too, need to think about it,” Ambekar said.
“How the management can be done is for the government to decide. We are a democratic country… it is for all governments, Centre and states, to formulate a way forward. We do not know how it will be done, whether through legal or some other methods. But in principle, there should be population management or population control,” he added.
‘All of us are a part of a larger Hindu community’
On Prime Minister Modi’s call to uplift “Pasmanda Muslims”, a term that refers to economically and socially depressed sections of the community, Ambekar said that the RSS had always reached out to all communities.
“In a country of 130 crore people, the Sangh believes that all of us are part of a larger Hindu community — and it is not related to religion, but to the culture and soil of this country. The sangh goes to every community. As our shakhas (branches) expand, we are trying to reach every caste and community, and there is no Hindu-Muslim or any religion-specific bias,” Ambekar said.
“[RSS chief] Mohan Bhagwat ji always says that we all — Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and other communities — belong to the same land, we all have same ancestors and the same history, and will have the same future,” he added.
UCC needed for an ‘inclusive’ India
On the RSS-BJP’s longstanding agenda to introduce a Uniform Civil Code (UCC), which envisions common personal civil laws for all citizens regardless of religion, Ambekar said it was needed in order to foster an “inclusive India”.
“It is a legal matter. I can’t comment on the nitty-gritty of the law. Experts are there to take care of it. But for an inclusive society, there has to be a uniform law. The law should accommodate and respect the personal civil laws of all communities. But there should be one law. Discussions and deliberations are on about it; they will surely get a way to bring it,” he said.
100 years of RSS
The RSS has high hopes of realising its vision of a “Hindu Rashtra” ahead of the organisation’s centenary in 2025, Ambekar said.
“We have been imagining the same thing for years. We want to see our country excel in everything. The RSS protested against Partition and now, the RSS protests against all divisive forces. Anybody can worship any god, but they have to accept the fact that they belong to this nation. Our idea of the Hindu Rashtra is not about religion but the idea of Hindutva, which embraces all,” he said.
He added that around 20 affiliates of the RSS are working across 500 districts to encourage entrepreneurship among youth. “We have trained over 5,000 people to take up entrepreneurship or support people to start their own enterprises,” he said.
“In ancient India, our people used to run their own enterprises and businesses. The young generation need to dream about becoming job givers and not only job takers,” he added.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)
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