NEW DELHI: Despite mounting allegations that Indias ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is failing to protect Indias secular tradition and religious diversity, Mohan Bhagwat- the chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)- the BJPs ideological mentor has claimed that now is the “favourable time for Hindus to organise themselves to realise a “Hindu Rashtra, which he insists is Indias essential identity. Regardless of the outrage over Ghar Wapasi efforts being run by so-called right wing fringe groups associated with the RSS, to reconvert Muslims and Christians to their original Hindu faith, Bhagwat said, “Hindustan is a Hindu Rashtra, which is a fact. We are going ahead with this (idea).
Addressing RSS gatherings in Meerut and Ghaziabad on Sunday, 8 Feb, Mohan Bhagwat quoted poet Rabindranath Tagore to say that whenever there will be conflicts among Hindus and Muslims, “a middle- path will emerge and that path will be of Hindutava. Bhagwat claimed that the RSS had, had a very hard time in the past, in an apparent reference to the long Congress rule that preceded the arrival of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister of India. “No Swayamsevak Sangh in the world had to face such a long and bitter opposition as we faced in our own country. We had to move forward under very difficult circumstances,” he said.
Recalling that even in adverse circumstances, RSS founder K B Hedgewar had started branches of RSS to bring together the entire Hindu community, Bhagwat said that this is a “very favourable time” for the Sangh unlike in the past.
He asserted that “Hindustan is a Hindu Rashtra, which is a fact. We are going ahead with this (idea). All Hindus have to be organised to make this nation great. When our country will become great that will benefit the entire world.
Bhagwat went on to say that We have the know-how for what we want to do. If we continue fighting among ourselves, this Constitution cannot protect us.
There was a time, Bhagwat said, when there was no acceptance for the ideology of the Sangh either in the country or in other parts of the world but “this is a very favourable time for the Sangh,” he said.
Noting that the organisation has struggled a lot, Bhagwat said “and the result was that today we have a favourable situation but it does not mean that we should become complacent. Rather it is the time we need to work more.”
In August last year, Bhagwat was quoted as saying, Hindutva is a way of life and Hindus could be of any religion worshipping any God or not worshipping at all- which appears to be the guiding philosophy behind the Ghar Wapasi initiative. The RSS chief has in the past raised the question in public, that If inhabitants of England are English, Germany are Germans and USA are Americans then why should all inhabitants of Hindustan not be known as Hindus?
On Sunday again he sought to push the idea of Hindutva as a common cultural identity of India. While asking the gathering to respect diversity, he said that “the idea of Hinduism is the only idea in the world which brings all together. The fundamental unity amidst all diversities is the crux of India, Bhagwat said.
The issue of religious freedom in India or the lack of it has been in focus lately. During his recent visit to Delhi, US President Barack Obama had said that “India will succeed so long as it is not splintered on religious lines.
Days later, he repeated that concern, without singling out any one group, nation or religion. On Thursday, 5 Feb, speaking at the White House National Prayer Breakfast, with the Dalai Lama in the audience, Mr Obama talked about India’s culture and its religious diversity and differences. Michelle and I returned from India – an incredible, beautiful country, full of magnificent diversity – but a place where, in past years, religious faiths of all types have, on occasion, been targeted by other people of faith, simply due to their heritage and their beliefs – acts of intolerance that would have shocked [Mahatma] Gandhiji, the person who helped to liberate that nation.
Even as those comments raised a storm in India, the New York Times in an editorial, asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to break his “deafening silence on the issue of religious freedom.
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