New Delhi: Hindutva does not mean excluding Muslims, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Chief Mohan Bhagwat said Saturday, asserting that any Hindu who believes Muslims should have no place in India ceases to be a Hindu.
He was speaking at the ‘One World: One Humanity’ Faith Leaders Conference in New York, which brought together speakers from Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Islam.
“If any Hindu thinks that there should be no Muslim in Bharat, he will not remain Hindu. If you want to call yourself Hindu, you must believe that all paths are leading to the same goal and that every human has dignity. There is no difference between human beings,” the RSS Sarsanghchalak said at the event organised by the AHEAD (American Hindus for Engagement And Dialogue) Forum.
The RSS chief further said socio-religious organisations may want to influence and shape policies before they take effect, but politics itself has largely become a ‘game of self-interest’, and hence they need to begin their work with society first.
“We want to influence and shape policies before they take effect, and in the right way. We want to stop wars. Therefore, at some point, we have to engage with politics. But we cannot start there. My experience aligns with the traditional thought of Bharat, the underlying unity of humanity. Leaders throughout our history have emphasised this, and our Constitution reflects it as well. Yet, change is not happening through politics alone,” Bhagwat added.
“I am sorry to say, but politics has largely become a game of self-interest. As has been rightly said, wherever there is ‘me’ and ‘mine’, there is no solution; ‘We’ and ‘ours’ is the only solution. Our experience in Bharat has taught us that we must start with society itself. And we have already begun that work,” he said.
Bhagwat also recalled a 2018 speech he delivered in Delhi, and how many people reached out to him afterwards and invited him for a dialogue, following which the organisation initiated that dialogue, primarily with the Muslims and Christians of Bharat.
At his US event, he added, “In 2018, during my lecture series in Delhi, several Muslim brothers present there asked me, ‘You are a Hindu organisation. You speak of Hindu Rashtra. What about us Muslims? Will you drive us out?’ I told them, ‘No, that is not Hindutva. If any Hindu thinks that there should be no Muslim in Bharat, he ceases to be a Hindu.”
The RSS chief emphasised how the organisation believes in serving, and while doing so it “doesn’t see any discrimination”.
“We (RSS) are serving. While serving, we don’t see discrimination. Whoever is in need, we are serving. 1.30 lakh service projects are being run by our Swayamsevaks with the help of society. They served everywhere and served equally,” said Bhagwat.
He further cited the example of 1996 when two planes collided in Haryana’s Dadri and Swayamsevaks were the first to reach and help.
“Two planes collided in Dadri, Haryana (1996) – a state in India. Both planes were from Muslim countries. Most of the passengers were Muslims. After the collision, our Swayamsevaks reached there first. And they served. All passengers were dead. Our Swayamsevaks arranged the funeral, and when their relatives came, helped in identifying them. We don’t have the thought that they are Muslims,” he explained.
“Religious leaders have to impart this eternal wisdom from time to time, keeping in mind that in the present situation, it will be a laborious task,” he added.
Bhagwat said the organisation believes in serving and, while serving, “we don’t see discrimination”.
The RSS chief highlighted that while people may follow different religions, humanity remains one. “We live in a society where religions may be different, but humanity is one,” he said,
He also emphasised that in India, people of all religious denominations live, and “Bharat has given shelter to everybody” without discrimination.
“Those who could not find a safe place in the world came to Bharat, where they found their place.”
However, he did maintain that there does exist a baggage of the past that people “unnecessarily carry”.
“Somehow, it happened in the course of history. I cannot point to the moment. After that, our society and our country became targets of foreign invasions, and so many things were lost. But that tradition still exists, which teaches common people the same thing: one world, one humanity. But, like you said, there is baggage that people unnecessarily carry. In our Bharat, people of all denominations live together because, traditionally, Bharat has given shelter to everybody,” he said.
Bhagwat said where there is “me” and “mine,” there is no solution.
“We” and “ours” are the solution. Diversity is a decoration for our unity. It has to be accepted. It has to be respected. It has to be protected. As I protect my own specific nature, I have to protect others also,” he said.
Truth, he said, is one. “There are many religions. In today’s world, religious work is largely defined by rituals. And to bring in religious discipline, and to create that path to divinity, this discipline of rituals is also necessary.
Among the speakers was Cardinal John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, the prominent Nigerian Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Abuja from 1994 to 2019.
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A reiteration
The 1 September 2018 remarks the RSS chief referred to was made at an RSS lecture series in New Delhi. When he was asked what “Hindu Rashtra” meant for Muslims, he responded that it did not mean India would have no place for Muslims. “The day it is said that Muslims are unwanted here, the concept of Hindutva will cease to exist.”
Later, on 4 July 2021, at the launch of Khwaja Iftikhar Ahmed’s book The Meeting of Minds, Bhagwat again addressed the question of whether Muslims belonged in India.
He said, “If anyone says that Muslims should not stay in India, then he is not a Hindu.”
He also said that Hindus and Muslims were part of the same Indian society and that calls for Hindu-Muslim unity should recognise that they were already one.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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