Mumbai: The world needs harmony and India can become a “vishwaguru” (teacher of the world) by exhibiting its tradition of diversity and inclusiveness, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat said Thursday.
In the same breath, he added that while Hindus feel strongly about their places of devotion, raking up issues like that of the Ram Mandir every day will not help.
Speaking at an event in Pune, Bhagwat said, “Hindus felt the Ram Mandir should take shape and that wasn’t happening. Hindus feel about their places of devotion, but thinking that by doing so, one can become a Hindu leader…or raking up one such issue everyday with sentiments of extremism, disdain, enmity and suspicion out of the burdens of the past… how will that work? It will not.”
He added, “We need to show the world that we all can stay together in peace. There should be a small experiment of this in our own country.”
India is not a country created by the British, and has been born out of culture and tradition and not the need for power, unlike most other nations, Bhagwat said in his speech.
There are all types of people in the country, which is something that political parties and devotional sects should not forget, he went on.
“The dharma that has been looking over nature ever since her creation is the base of our country. This should be very clear. Let there not be ambiguity in this…whichever political party or devotional sect it may be. It should also be clear that unity is not about destroying all this diversity. Diversity is the adornment of unity, and we should accept and respect this.”
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‘Hindu rashtra’
The RSS head said that besides security reasons and the need for survival, factors like language and common economy also acted as binders for other countries, but these were not enough to keep them together.
“We keep seeing these countries also fighting with each other. That leads to the concept of a nation state. We didn’t have anything like this. We were all happy and didn’t need a nation state to exert authority because nobody ever had to fight with each other. We say unity is diversity, but I say diversity is unity,” he remarked. “Those who say certain people are not ours…they are others, are speaking the language of someone with diminutive intelligence.”
The idea that everyone is ultimately ours is the ideology of the civilisation of ancient India, which some, including those in the RSS, call the “Hindu Rashtra” today, he said.
‘Aurangzeb, British played mischief’
Bhagwat further said that while Indian culture shows that we can stay together unitedly, there have been some who have attempted “mischief” from time to time.
“Aurangzeb did this. The assimilation was happening, but he disrupted it…,” he said, adding the next major disruption was in 1857.
“A maulvi and a saint had decided to give the Ram Mandir to Hindus. The British realised that these people who fight each other can unite before a foreign force like us. So they should be kept divided. Pakistan was born out of that conspiracy. Otherwise, everyone was saying we want to live in an independent India.”
Bhagwat said that the people of India will have to “forget the fight for the upper hand and staunchness”, and be part of the country’s “all-inclusive culture”.
“If that is the case…we are all one, how does the language of difference and upper hand come about? Who is the minority? Who is the majority? Everyone is the same. Follow law and order and behave well with each other.”
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Looks like Baghwat is looking for a congress ticket. Trying to speak Rahul Gandhi’s language of Mohabat ki dukaan. If he is serious, its a welcome step or it could be another one of RSS deception tactics.
Also his argument that no one in Indian history fought is factually wrong. Many kingdoms fought against each other to acquire more power.