Thiruvananthapuram: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Saturday defended remarks by senior leader Dattatreya Hosabale about Pakistan, saying Hosabale’s comments were aimed at the Pakistani populace rather than its rulers or official policies.
Participating in an interactive session held as part of the RSS’s centenary programme here, Bhagwat clarified that the RSS does not conduct an independent foreign policy and that the organisation aligns with the Union government’s stance on Pakistan-related matters.
He argued that there exist pockets within Pakistan who are critical of the Partition and hold a favourable view of the RSS’s activities. Bhagwat said some Pakistanis reject the two-nation theory and believe that cohabitation before 1947 was preferable, as reported by India TV.
“But there are a lot of people in Pakistan who believe the partition of Bharat was wrong and many journalists t
here praise the RSS and its work. There is a distinct undercurrent there of people being anti-Pakistan and against the two-nation theory and they say living together was better,” he said.
Bhagwat further remarked that if India were ever to gain an overwhelming advantage over Pakistan, care must be taken not to alienate ordinary citizens. He maintained that communication channels should remain open so that people can either continue to live peacefully in their country or be integrated, depending on circumstances.
“If, in the future, India was to defeat Pakistan beyond repair, the people there will have to be brought into the fold of Bharat or they should be able to live peacefully in that country itself, and for that the doors of dialogue need to be kept open. We are not like Hitler. That is not our nature or our way. So we need to keep some doors open. We should vanquish injustice and tyranny, but we should also preserve what is good,” he added.
Earlier, RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale had spoken about the need to maintain engagement with Pakistan. In a May interview with PTI Videos, he emphasized that while national security and dignity must be preserved, dialogue should not be ruled out entirely.
“The security and self-respect of a country have to be protected and the government of the day should take care of it. But at the same time, we need not close the doors. We should always be ready to engage them in a dialogue,” Hosabale had said, commenting on India’s approach amid ongoing terrorism concerns.