We do not mean to leave out anyone when we say Hindu Rashtra: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Tuesday said that the organisation’s vision of a “Hindu Rashtra” was neither against anyone nor meant to exclude any community, The Indian Express reported.

“When we talk about Hindu Rashtra, questions are raised,” the newspaper quoted Bhagwat as saying. “When we say Hindu Rashtra, we do not mean we are going to leave out anyone…or we are opposed to anyone. The Sangh is not like that.”

The RSS, the parent organisation of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, has faced criticism from its opponents for projecting India as a “Hindu Rashtra” or a Hindu nation.

Bhagwat was speaking at the opening of a three-day centenary lecture series organised by the RSS, during which he will outline the organisation’s views on India and its future.

He said that the idea of a Hindu Rashtra could not be understood through the Western concept of a nation-state, the Hindustan Times reported.

It has nothing to do with politics or power, but is egalitarian and does not differentiate on the basis of religion or language, he claimed.

“Whenever there has been a rule with the prominence of Hindu Rashtra, it has not been one concerned with religion and faith,” The Indian Express quoted him as saying. “Everyone has equal justice in it, no discrimination at all.”

Suggesting that all those living in...

Read more