Mohan Bhagwat says efforts from both sides required for communal harmony

Shillong, June 2: Mohan Bhagwat, the chief of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), claimed on Thursday that despite some people emphasising the differences, India has long kept Muslim customs and practices and had safeguarded the community’s distinctive identity.

Bhagwat was addressing the closing ceremony of a training camp at the headquarters in Nagpur of the RSS, which is the ideological mentor of the ruling BJP. “The emotional integration of communities in the country will come only with the understanding that we have been one for centuries, despite differences,” he said.

“There were communities that came here from other places. We fought with them then, but they are gone now. Baharwale sab chale gaye, ab sab andarwale hai. (There are only insiders now). So we must live, forgetting the links with outsiders. Everyone here is part of us. If there is any difference in their thinking, we must talk to them. India’s unity is paramount and everyone should work towards that,” he said.

He claimed that although dialogue was the only way forward, it was also crucial for everyone to “not stress on a separate identity and accept the national identity as the unifier.” He claimed that the “baggage of the past, combined with the ego of some,” was preventing the Hindu and Muslim communities from demonstrating their unity.