New Delhi: Shining the spotlight on Kashi and Mathura, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat said here Thursday that while the Sangh will not join the movement to ‘reclaim’ these places, swayamsevaks (volunteers) are free to participate.
“Sangh does not participate in movements. The only movement which we joined was Ram mandir which we supported fully and took it to the end. For other movements, the Sangh will not get involved,” Bhagwat said on Day 3 of the RSS centenary lecture series titled ‘100 years of Sangh’s journey: New Horizons’.
The Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi shares a boundary wall with the Gyanvapi mosque, while the Shahi Idgah in Mathura is adjacent to the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple complex. Bhagwat said that, in the Hindu mindset, Kashi, Mathura and Ayodhya hold great significance and hence Hindu society will take the lead in these matters.
In the 1990s, Hindu Right-wing organisations including the RSS-affiliated Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) had raised the slogan “Ayodhya toh sirf jhaanki hai, Kashi-Mathura baaki hai”.
(Ayodhya is just the start, Varanasi and Mathura are still left)
Bhagwat also reiterated his previous stand of not looking for a ‘Shivling in every masjid’.
In 2022, the RSS chief at the concluding ceremony of an organisational training programme in Nagpur had said one should not escalate disputes and that even the Gyanvapi mosque issue could be resolved amicably. “We shouldn’t bring out a new matter daily … why look for a Shivling in every masjid?” he asked.
On Thursday he once again pointed out that there is no need to look for a ‘mandir’ everywhere. However, he urged that it is a matter of “just three temples” and the spirit of brotherhood should be kept in mind.
“Agar main ye keh sakta hoon, har jagah mandir mat dhoondo, har jagah shivling mat dhoondo, toh thoda itna bhi hona chahiye ki chalo teen hee ki baat hai na (Kashi, Mathura and Ayodhya), le lo. Yeh kyun na ho? Ye bhaichaare ke liye bohat badaa kadam hoga,” he said.
(If I can say, don’t look for a temple or shivling everywhere, they should also say that it is just a matter of three temples, take them. It will be a big step for the spirit of brotherhood.)
The VHP has maintained that the ‘structure’ found in the survey of the Gyanvapi mosque is one of 12 “jyotirlingas”, which are considered a representation of the Hindu deity Shiva.
Speaking to ThePrint, VHP president Alok Kumar had said he believed there was a ‘shivling’ inside, but would wait for a decision from the Varanasi district judge hearing the case. He also said that Ayodhya’s journey was “our journey, we initiated it, led it and we achieved it,” but the fight for Kashi was being fought by the entire Hindu community.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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