Everyone living in Bharat is a ‘Hindu’: RSS chief

SHILLONG, Sep 25: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday said the Sangh is not working to turn everyone into Hindus since the values of this country’s eternal civilization had been named as Hindutva and everyone is already a Hindu.
“People are afraid that the Sangh will turn everyone into Hindus. We are not here to covert anyone. We are all from Bharat. To become a Hindu, we need not change anyone; we are already Hindus. We need to live with all sections of people. We are together though we look different,” said Bhagwat while addressing a gathering at the U Soso Tham Auditorium.
“Our binding force is our inherent faith in our age-old value which lies in spirituality. These values of this country’s eternal civilization had been named as Hindutva by people outside our country”.
“We are Hindus, but there is no particular definition of Hindu, although it’s our identity. Both the terms Bharatiya and Hindu are synonyms. It is a geo-cultural identity in fact,” he added.
Stating that the oneness of India is its strength and the diversity that India boasts of is something to be proud of, he said the invaders saw this differently whereas India says Unity in Diversity.
“This is the speciality of India. We have been one always. When we forgot this, we lost our independence. Hence, we must make sure that we become one and make our country stronger and more self-reliant,” he added. Bhagwat emphasised how the Sangh has been carrying on the national reconstruction work since 1925 with the help of dedicated swayamsevaks.
He said that the Sangh is not just another organisation working for itself but the real mission is to make the society organised in order to make Bharat attain all-round development.
Bhagwat’s two-day visit to Meghalaya has been marked with a series of meetings with Sangh functionaries and socio-cultural leadership in the state.
Several BJP leaders and members of Hindu organisations attended the event organised by the RSS unit in the state.
Meanwhile, State BJP chief Ernest Mawrie said that political parties often tag the BJP with the RSS but Bhagwat’s visit and his speech has clearly enunciated that the Hindutva agenda of the RSS is untrue.
Senior BJP Leader AL Hek said Bhagwat explained in clear terms that RSS stands for unity and nationalism and everyone is an Indian.
“The message is very clear. There should not be any misconception as this is for the unity of the country. We should live as brothers and sisters in the family,” he added.