Referring to recent controversies, Bhagwat expressed his displeasure when he said that “every day a new matter (dispute) is being raked up. (Express file photo)
Dec 24, 2024 19:38 IST First published on: Dec 24, 2024 at 19:38 IST
The RSS chief has, yet again, made a bold and welcoming statement to promote unity and harmony in the country. His efforts to achieve the constitutional goal of “fraternity” must be appreciated. Speaking in Pune on the subject of India as Vishwaguru on December 19, Mohan Bhagwat sent out a strong message to the Hindutva leadership and its foot soldiers: “We have been living in harmony for a long time. If we want to provide this harmony to the world, we need to create a model of it. After the construction of [the] Ram Mandir, some people think that they can become leaders of Hindus by raking up similar issues in new places. This is not acceptable.” Though the late Sushma Swaraj, on April 14, 2000, had admitted in Bhopal that “the temple movement was purely political in nature and had nothing to do with religion”, the RSS chief was categorical that the Ayodhya issue was a matter of faith, shunning any political motivation. Many have indeed made big political fortunes from temple politics. The RSS chief’s jab against the future breed of such leaders who want, in no time, to climb the ladder through religious politics is timely and must be taken seriously by all Hindutva political leaders and organisations.
Referring to recent controversies, Bhagwat expressed his displeasure when he said that “every day a new matter (dispute) is being raked up. How can this be allowed? This cannot continue.” His words would have a calming effect, provided local civil courts give more importance to the five-judge bench’s judgment in the Babri Masjid case (2019) rather than some oral observations by Justice D Y Chandrachud who has since clarified that such observations have no legal sanctity.
Unfortunately, most Hindu liberals and some Muslims do not value enough such positive statements. They fail to realise that it is not easy to come out so strongly against the Hindutva brigade’s frequent claims over mosques and dargahs. Popular digital platform The Jaipur Dialogues has angrily responded, saying the “RSS chief is not the spokesperson of Hindus and we will reclaim every inch of our land.” The Akhil Bhartiya Sant Samiti, a body of Hindu Saints, too criticised Bhagwat and asked him to leave such matters to Hindu Seers. Former CBI Chief M Nageswara Rao in 2021 termed the RSS a “pseudo-Hindutva fraud” and asked Hindus to work toward an “RSS-mukt Bharat” (RSS-free India). Bhagwat was also criticised for his statement about Hindus and Muslims having the same DNA.
On October 12, in his annual Dussehra address, the RSS chief criticised frequent blasphemous statements against the Prophet of Islam, when he asked people “not to resort to violence, attacking a particular section of society to create fear or disrespect someone’s faith, place of worship, holy book or their sages in thought or in words.” The RSS chief is indeed walking a tightrope and is receiving brickbats from both sides. Hardcore Hindutva supporters are fast disowning him and Muslims and liberals have not yet developed the confidence to trust his words despite the consistency in his statements. At times, he does reiterate classical Hindutva positions: At an event for Dainik Tarun Bharat on August 31, 2023, he said: “India is a Hindu Rashtra and this is a fact and all Indians are Hindus”; On January 10, 2023, he said that Hindus have been at war for thousand years and on October 7 this year, he urged Hindu society to unite for its security.
However, at a time when so much hate and poison have already been injected into our society, we must search for positivity and appreciate Bhagwat’s statements. This may well encourage him to take the next logical steps of using his influence over central and state governments to make them more responsible — for creating social harmony, peace and unity and particularly, making politicians refrain from exclusionary and communal statements.
On September 17, 2018, Bhagwat surprised everyone when he told the packed Vigyan Bhawan audience that “Hindutva would remain incomplete without Muslims and there would be no Hindu Rashtra without Muslims.” On January 1, 2021, at the launch of J K Bajaj and M D Srinivas’s book entitled Making of a Hindu Patriot: Background of Gandhiji’s Hind Swaraj, the RSS chief went against Hindutva’s narrow concept of nationalism and patriotism with land and territory being given excessive importance. In his characteristic style, he said that the “love for the country does not mean land only, it means its people, rivers, culture, traditions and everything.” On July 4, 2021, while launching Khwaja Iftikhar Ahmed’s b The Meeting of Minds: A Bridging Initiative and, in a way, acknowledging that many Muslims today indeed live under fear, he urged Muslims not to get “trapped in the cycle of fear” that Islam is in danger in India. Condemning mob lynching in the strongest words, he said “these lynchings are against Hindutva”. Bhagwat also reiterated that the talk of Hindu-Muslim unity is misleading “as they are not different, but one.”
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In an interview with a Hindi daily, the RSS chief asserted that the Constitution nowhere says only Hindus can live in India or only Hindus will have a say in this country or to live in India, one has to accept the supremacy of Hindus. Refusing to buy the argument of Hindu domination, the RSS chief said “we are in a democracy. There cannot be a dominance of Hindus or Muslims”. He reiterated this position in his December 19 speech.
In today’s atmosphere of hate and bigotry, the RSS chief is probably the only person who, through his massive influence over the masses and government, can restore sanity, tolerance and accommodation. India cannot become a developed nation by 2047 if we continue to live in the past and keep correcting historical wrongs. Let us look at the future and allow bygones to be bygones.
The writer is Vice-Chancellor, Chanakya National Law University, Patna. Views are personal
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