New York: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Saturday said there was no difference between human beings and a Hindu must believe that all paths of faith lead to the same goal. Emphasising that every human has dignity, he told a crowd of spiritual leaders at the “One World One Humanity’ conference in New York that if any Hindu would think there should be no Muslim in ‘Bharat’, then he wouldn’t remain a Hindu.
At the event, he shared an anecdote to highlight that his outfit, RSS, believes in communal harmony and doesn’t discriminate on religious lines. He recalled about the collision of two aircraft in Haryana.
“Two planes collided over Haryana, which is part of Bharat, over the place named Dadri. Both were from Arab countries. Most of the passengers were Muslims. After that collision, our Swayamsevaks reached there first, and they served. Served in treating the injured. All others were dead. Recovering their bodies, arrange for the funeral rites when their relatives come, helping them in identifying. We never thought at that time that these are Muslims. The prominent working organisation was RSS,” he said.
The leader insisted that RSS could serve the victims of the collision, regardless of their religion, because the outfit was not in politics.
“We could do this because we are not in politics. And we don’t go on making these things famous because we don’t want anything from this. No return. I do not only tell others not to come to gain something. We do it in Sangha. We only give. We don’t want anything… There are many perceptions created by wrong narratives. But when you come and see us from inside, all those will be disbelieving in the day…” he added.
The leader claimed that since RSS believes in the ideology of giving, it is ‘way behind’ in matters of publicity.
“Politics today, especially in a democracy, depends on the public view. If there is public opinion, then no politician will dare to go against it. Therefore, I think after taking a common resolve today, we have to act in these societies, and we have to act first locally. Whatever we decide to do today, we should start in our own country and create pockets of such selfless service, such an atmosphere of unity, and then this dialogue should continue. Through this dialogue, we should connect them, and then we should grow,” he added.
“…I’m sorry to say, but the fact is, politics has now become a game of self-interest. And you have rightly said, where there is me and I, there is no solution. We and ours are the solution. So our experience in Bharat is that we have to start with the society…” he said.
He also recalled being questioned by several Muslims about his “claim of a Hindu Rashtra” during his lecture series in New Delhi in 2018.
“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,” he said.
