New Delhi: Even as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat emphasised the need for social unity repeatedly, he cautioned that despite unity and knowledge, if there is no modesty, the two are used for enhancing one’s “prabhutva (dominance)” and oppression.
“We have seen this in history and in the present on several occasions. If we want freedom from all this, we need modesty,” Bhagwat said Tuesday, inaugurating the new headquarters of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in Delhi.
At a time when the whole world, and the principles on which the world order has stood, are undergoing a transformation, the world is looking at India for direction—the third way, Bhagwat further said.
The world is shaking after following the same unbaked principles for over 2,000 years, and has failed to find peace after following two paths, he added, possibly alluding to communism and capitalism.
For very long, even Indians have been fed knowledge from outside, and have formed their worldviews on that basis. As a result, even those of us who talk about decolonisation are colonised, Bhagwat said. “We have to think from a fully decolonised mind, and think about the fate and direction of our country.”
At a time when the issue of the new Waqf law has triggered violence, and even created a rift within the Bharatiya Janata Party, Bhagwat said that Indians can give direction to the world only if they remain united themselves. “We need Ekta and ekatma (united soul),” he asserted.
Reaffirming the Sangh’s faith in the Constitution, he said that the basis of unity is there in our Constitution. “There is diversity (in our country). But if there is a feeling of ekatma, then people of different temperaments, languages, communities, castes can come together for the sake of the country, and strive towards the welfare of the world.”
This is the view of the Sanatan (dharm) in the form of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam too, Bhagwat added. “We acknowledge the identities of every nation of the world, and yet we say that there are many countries, but there’s one kutumb (family).”
“In our country, there are innumerable languages, pranths, castes, eating habits. But we are one country, one people, one nation,” he said. Moreover, we are not a nation like the ones created by foreigners as we assimilate what comes from outside within ourselves too, he went on to say. “We have our own imagination of our rashtra. It connects all of us, no matter what our languages, communities, castes. If something comes from outside, we accept what is well-meaning, if there’s any ashuddhi (impurity), we rectify it, we assimilate it. If we work with this sentiment.”
Congratulating the karyakartas of ABVP for the inauguration of the organisation’s new headquarters in the capital and the feat of becoming the world’s largest student organisation with over 58 lakh members, Bhagwat also said that ABVP has a lot of work left to do, given the country’s expanse and scale of the education system.
Cautioning the karyakartas against losing focus, Bhagwat said, “Kabhi kabhi dasha badalti hai toh disha bhi badal jati hai. Iski chinta karni padti hai (Sometimes, when circumstances change, the direction changes, too. We have to worry about that).”
In what can be construed as a sign of complete synergy between the RSS and the BJP, among those in attendance at the event were BJP national president J.P. Nadda, national general secretary Vinod Tawde, party veterans M. Venkaiah Naidu and Murli Manohar Joshi, Union ministers Mansukh Mandaviya, Dharmendra Pradhan, Piyush Goyal, Gajendra Singh Shikhawat and Nitin Gadkari, and Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and Deputy Chief Minister Parvesh Verma.
Also present were senior RSS functionaries, like Arun Kumar, Krishna Gopal, Ramlal, C. Mukunda and Sunil Ambekar.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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