Meerut: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Friday said the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is not driven by any desire for political power and is solely committed to organising the entire Hindu society and fostering character-building among individuals.
Interacting with around 950 national and international sportspersons at Madhav Kunj in Shatabdi Nagar here, Bhagwat emphasised the importance of social unity and said the organisation does not work in opposition to or competition with any particular group.
Addressing the gathering for about 50 minutes, he highlighted the RSS’s nearly 100-year journey since its inception and called upon the youth to play an active role in nation-building, according to participants at the programme.
Saturday was day one of the two-day lecture series titled ‘100 Years of Sangh Journey: New Horizons’ at Nehru Centre in Worli area.
The RSS long ago decided that it would not take up any work other than the unification of society, and once that task is achieved, it would not pursue any other agenda, Bhagwat said.
Many people believe that Narendra Modi is the Prime Minister because of the RSS. He said, adding that while Modi leads a political party and many RSS volunteers are active in public life, “the political party is a separate entity and not an organ of the RSS.”
In his lecture, Bhagwat referred to various streams of thought that emerged during the freedom movement, represented by reformers and leaders including Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Swami Vivekananda, and Dayananda Saraswati.
“But still it is seen, to some extent, that the work of giving a direction to society and creating an (enabling) environment is not happening,” he said.
The RSS was not “against anyone” and did not work as a reaction to any incident, Bhagwat said, adding that its focus was supporting and strengthening positive efforts underway in the country.
The Sangh was also not a paramilitary force even though it conducts route marches, and though its volunteers wield the lathi, it should not be seen as an “akhada” (wrestling club), Bhagwat said.
Nor is the RSS involved in politics, though some individuals with the Sangh background are active in political life, he added.
Talking about what led Hedgewar to found the Sangh, Bhagwat said in his early days Hedgewar campaigned for the non-cooperation movement and was charged with sedition and even sentenced to one year’s imprisonment.
“Dr Hedgewar held extensive discussions on the condition of the country with leaders such as Lokmanya Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, Dr B R Ambedkar, and Bhagat Singh. Through these deliberations, Hedgewar concluded that political freedom would eventually be attained, but the more important question was what guarantee existed that India would not be enslaved again,” he said.
The British, he noted, were not the first invaders of the country. India had faced repeated invasions even before Alexander’s time. Freedom would come, but unless deeper societal weaknesses were addressed, enslavement could recur, Bhagwat added.
Hedgewar identified several shortcomings in society, such as loss of unity, discipline, and hygiene, increasing selfishness, insufficient knowledge and widespread poverty, and to address these challenges, he began experimenting with ways to unite society, the RSS chief said, adding that the RSS was thus founded on Vijayadashami in 1925 to unite the entire Hindu community.
A line from the Bible could also be applied to the RSS that “it has come to fulfil, not to destroy”, Bhagwat said.
The RSS does not exercise direct or indirect control over the activities undertaken by its volunteers. People often assume that because RSS volunteers are active in several sectors, those works belong to the RSS, but it is a wrong perception, he said.
The RSS essentially means the shakha system — a daily one-hour gathering involving physical exercise and mental discipline, where people from all castes and social backgrounds work together, Bhagwat said, adding that it helps in shaping individuals for national betterment.
As to the RSS’s detractors, he said they too are part of society, and honest opposition is beneficial.
Everyone living in Bharat is Hindu, Bhagwat said, adding that the term does not denote a religion tied to specific rituals or prayers, nor is it the name of a particular community. “Hindu is not a noun but an adjective,” said Bhagwat.
Responding to frequent claims that the word Hindu was coined by outsiders, Bhagwat said Guru Nanak had used the term during Babur’s invasion.
When someone is referred to as Muslim, it implies respect for Allah, the Quran, and the Prophet. But within India, there were Vaishnavas, Shaivites, Jains, Buddhists, and many others, yet Guru Nanak described all of them as Hindus, he said.
Indian Muslims and Christians are different from Muslims and Christians elsewhere because they are rooted in this land, which shapes their behaviour, the RSS chief said.
India does not aspire to be a superpower that controls the world with force, Bhagwat said, adding, “We are witnessing such powers today.”
India’s goal is to become a `Vishwaguru’ by leading through example rather than domination or speeches, he said.
