Hindutva does not mean excluding Muslims, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat said Saturday, asserting that any Hindu who believes Muslims should have no place in India ceases to be a Hindu.
He was speaking at the ‘One World: One Humanity’ Faith Leaders Conference in New York, which brought together speakers from Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Islam.
“If any Hindu thinks that there should be no Muslim in Bharat, he will not remain Hindu. If you want to call yourself Hindu, you must believe that all paths are leading to the same goal and that every human has dignity. There is no difference between human beings,” the RSS Sarsanghchalak said at the event organised by the AHEAD (American Hindus for Engagement And Dialogue) Forum. The RSS chief further said socio-religious organisations may want to influence and shape policies before they take effect, but politics itself has largely become a ‘game of self-interest’, and hence they need to begin their work with society first.
“We want to influence and shape policies before they take effect, and in the right way. We want to stop wars. Therefore, at some point, we have to engage with politics. But we cannot start there. My experience aligns with the traditional thought of Bharat, the underlying unity of humanity. Leaders throughout our history have emphasised this, and our Constitution reflects it as well. Yet, change is not happening through politics alone,” Bhagwat added.
“I am sorry to say, but politics has largely become a game of self-interest. As has been rightly said, wherever there is ‘me’ and ‘mine’, there is no solution; ‘We’ and ‘ours’ is the only solution. Our experience in Bharat has taught us that we must start with society itself. And we have already begun that work,” he said.
Bhagwat also recalled a 2018 speech he delivered in Delhi, and how many people reached out to him afterwards and invited him for a dialogue, following which the organisation initiated that dialogue, primarily with the Muslims and Christians of Bharat.
At his US event, he added, “In 2018, during my lecture series in Delhi, several Muslim brothers present there asked me, ‘You are a Hindu organisation. You speak of Hindu Rashtra. What about us Muslims? Will you drive us out?’ I told them, ‘No, that is not Hindutva. If any Hindu thinks that there should be no Muslim in Bharat, he ceases to be a Hindu.”
The RSS chief emphasised how the organisation believes in serving, and while doing so it “doesn’t see any discrimination”.
“We (RSS) are serving. While serving, we don’t see discrimination. Whoever is in need, we are serving. 1.30 lakh service projects are being run by our Swayamsevaks with the help of society. They served everywhere and served equally,” said Bhagwat.