Hummingbird News Desk
GHAZIABAD, 4 JULY: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday said people of India have same DNA. Hindu and Musilm are not two groups, there is nothing to unite, and they’re already together.
Speaking at a book launch event organised by the Muslim Rashtriya Manch, the Muslim wing of the RSS, Mr Bhagwat said “It has been proven that we’re descendants of the same ancestors from the last 40,000 years. There is a need to guard against fear-mongering that the Sangh is against minorities or that Islam is in danger in India.”
Addressing an event organised by the Muslim Rashtriya Manch on the theme “Hindustani First, Hindustan First”, he said “Don’t get trapped in the cycle of fear that Islam is in danger in India,” he said at the event.
Underlining that development is not possible without unity in the country, the RSS chief stressed that the basis of unity should be nationalism and the glory of ancestors.
The only solution to Hindu-Muslim conflict is dialogue, not discord, he said.
“Hindu-Muslim unity is misleading as they’re not different, but one. DNA of all Indians are same, irrespective of religion,” Mr Bhagwat said.
“We are in a democracy. There can’t be a dominance of Hindus or Muslims. There can only be the dominance of Indians.”
While beginning his speech, Mr Bhagwat said he was attending the event neither for any image makeover nor for vote bank politics.
Mr Bhagwat said neither the Sangh is in politics nor does it bother about maintaining an image. “It keeps on doing its work to strengthen the nation and for the welfare of all in the society,” he said.
The RSS is the ideological fount of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and has oftebeen accused by its opponents of fostering majoritarianism. Bhagwat, for his part, defended the Sangh’s work as that of uniting people of different faiths. He said such work cannot be left to political parties.
He went on to say that political parties cannot act as tools to either help unite people or deepen the divide but can influence it. Allaying fears that a majoritarian sentiment is gaining ground in India, he said when atrocities take place against the minorities, voices in protest come from the majority itself. “If anyone says that Muslims should not stay in India then he is not a Hindu,” Bhagwat said.
In the backdrop of instances of violence against minorities by alleged cow vigilantes, Bhagwat said that though cows are revered in India, violence in the name of cow protection cannot be condoned.
“Law should take its course. They should investigate without partiality and punish the guilty. But anyone who is involved in lynching is not a Hindu,” he said.
Speaking at the launch of a book ‘The Meeting of Minds’ by Khwaja Ifteqar Ahmed in Ghaziabad, Mr Bhagwat also distanced the Sangh from electoral politics and said his presence at the launch of a book, that the author describes as a bridging initiative, should not be construed as an image makeover or an attempt to woo Muslims ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
“This is not an image makeover. The Sangh never cared for its image. We only work to unite all. Our resolve is to work for all and not against anyone. No matter what others think, we continue doing our work,” he said.
Tags: #RSS #MohanBhagwat #DNA #India
