SHILLONG, Sep 27: The Meghalaya Trinamool Congress on Tuesday vehemently criticised the “everyone is already a Hindu” comment made by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat and said painting the state with one brush only indicates the kind of mindset and miniscule perspective they have towards Meghalaya and the Northeast.
“It shows that they have a very limited view of the entire country,” TMC’s George B Lyngdoh said.
The Umroi legislator observed that since its inception, the RSS has been nurturing this attitude instead of respecting the sentiments and aspirations of the different communities.
Bhagwat on Sunday had 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,” Bhagwat had said while addressing a gathering at the U Soso Tham Auditorium.
Comment cannot be taken lightly: VPP
The Voice of the People Party (VPP) said Bhagwat’s statement that “everyone is already a Hindu” cannot be taken lightly.
VPP president and former MLA Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit said the statement is more than meets the eye.
“One should be able to read between the lines, what this statement actually means. If one tries to properly analyse the statement, one would conclude that it is directed at Christianity,” Basaiawmoit observed.
According to him, the RSS chief wanted to say the indigenous tribals of the state were originally Hindus but converted to Christianity. He accused Bhagwat of trying to create a division among the indigenous people.
Thirdly, Basaiawmoit said, the RSS chief tried to convince the state’s indigenous people that their traditional faith is no different from the Hindu religion.
“Therefore, his statement cannot be taken lightly. It is incumbent upon the indigenous people to be very careful and alert and not to be misled by such baseless and unfounded statement,” Basaiawmoit said.
He said it must be remembered that even before the advent of Christianity, the indigenous people practiced their traditional faith which is very different from the Hindu religion.
“The indigenous tribes worship a living god and are not idol worshippers. Therefore, indigenous tribal religion cannot be compared to Hinduism by any stretch of imagination,” Basaiawmoit said.
“As Christian myself, I never claimed that Meghalaya is a Christian state because faith or religion is personal and it has nothing to do with the state or a community. It is also unconstitutional to state that Meghalaya is a Christian state or that India is a Hindu country,” the VPP chief said.
He further said there is a need to oppose any attempt aimed at creating division in the society in the name of religion.
“Let us not look at each other through the prism of religion and instead, strive to maintain the unity of this great country,” he added.
