13.9.17

Hinduness is all embracing: RSS

Hinduness is not about what one should wear or eat but accepting others as they are, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said in comments that are significant in the context of the current political and ideological debate over intolerance and moral policing. In an interaction with diplomats, Bhagwat also spoke out against trolls which he called aggressive, adding that the extreme expressions on the internet amounted to hitting below the belt. He also asserted that neither the RSS nor the BJP ran each other and despite interactions the two organisations took separate decisions.

In a rare meeting, Bhagwat spoke to a group of ambassadors and diplomats from around 50 countries at an informal gathering organised by BJP general secretary Ram Madhav's India Foundation. The RSS chief, who spoke on activities of the organisation, dealt at some length on “Hinduness“, which he said accepted everyone, irrespective of what the person wore or ate.

Hinduness is about “accepting others as they are“ and “Hinduness is the ever changing quality of Hinduism“, said the RSS chief, according to a source who attended the session. His comments come in the backdrop of BJP and Sangh being accused of encouraging right wing extremists like cow vigilantes and the saffron parivar claiming it is being targeted selectively by political opponents. But Mohan Bhagwat's remarks that Hinduness is not about setting down dress and food codes, coming after PM Modi's repeated warnings that vigilantism is unacceptable, mark out the Sangh's official position and should be a marker for overtly Hindutva outfits like VHP and Bajrang Dal. 

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