Just empty rhetoric

The speech of RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat at the ‘One World, One Humanity’ conference held at Madison Square in New York, as part of his tour of the United States, has become the subject of much discussion. At a time when Sangh Parivar organisations in the country have been leading violent acts of disharmony, Bhagwat, speaking eloquently about humanity and unity in faraway America, went so far as to declare that Hindutva followers who refuse to embrace other communities have no place in the Hindu fold. The RSS chief delivered his gospel of humanity while addressing around 5,000 members of the Indian diaspora at the Infosys Theater in New York’s Madison Square Garden, under the banner of ‘American Hindus for Engagement and Dialogue’. Hindutva is not a philosophy that excludes anyone. If a Hindu believes that Muslims cannot be tolerated in Bharat, he is not a Hindu... We in the RSS are moving forward through dialogue and service. We began engaging in dialogue with Christians and Muslims after 2018. Religions may be different, but humanity is one. Diversity is an ornament of unity. It is the law of nature, Bhagwat proclaimed. The Sangh Parivar’s media mouthpieces, meanwhile, reported the speech with glowing descriptions of the Sarsanghchalak’s supposedly broad outlook.

However, critics argue that the speech is proof that Bhagwat himself represents the true face of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which plays opportunistic politics according to the circumstances. They point to the contradiction of the Sangh’s supreme leader singing a hymn to humanity in America while the BJP, the political face of the RSS in India, is using the full force of its governments at the Centre and in the states to push through anti-minority legislation and carry out acts aimed at their elimination.

In fact, Bhagwat’s speech lays bare all the inherent weaknesses of the RSS. The people of the world are not unaware of the kind of activities the RSS has been engaged in from its formation to the present day. The role played by the organisation in the communal riots that have taken place in the country over the years has been highlighted in every inquiry report. Since the BJP, the political face of the Parivar, came to power in 2014, its hate-filled and provocative activities against minorities, including Muslims and Christians, at the Centre and in various states where it is in power have come under widespread criticism. Legislation that makes the lives of minorities difficult, the bulldozer raj carried out against them selectively by exploiting loopholes in the law, encounter killings, mob lynchings carried out by various affiliated organisations, and systematic violence in which minorities’ lives and property are destroyed by taking the law into one’s own hands—all these reveal the Sangh Parivar’s true intentions and actions. The protests that erupted against Bhagwat’s US tour make clear the image the Sangh Parivar has acquired, both within and outside the country, through such inhuman activities. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani himself came forward, highlighting the RSS’s anti-humanitarian methods of operation. Large protests were also held outside the venue where the programme took place. It is against this backdrop, too, that Bhagwat’s speech proclaiming unity and humanity must be assessed.

The speech also inadvertently reveals the Sangh Parivar’s narrow outlook. Bhagwat sought to establish that service and dialogue are the Sangh’s hallmarks. As an example of service, he cited the voluntary work undertaken by the RSS when Saudi and Kazakh aircraft collided and crashed at Dadri in Haryana in November 1996. Although the passengers on the two aircraft from the two Arab countries were all Muslims (Bhagwat apparently has no doubt about whether Kazakhstan is an Arab country or whether all Arabs are Muslims), he presented the RSS’s involvement in rescue operations and the performance of last rites as an example of its service-oriented face. However, when the world hears the name Dadri, it is not the air disaster that took place 26 years ago that it recalls, but the incident 11 years ago in which a 50-year-old man, Mohammed Akhlaq, was beaten to death by Hindutva activists over allegations that he had stored beef in his refrigerator at home. The BJP government in Uttar Pradesh was quick to move towards exonerating the accused. Bhagwat spoke at length while glossing over the culpability of the mob lynching that began with that incident and was condemned by civil rights forums across the world. He also referred to engaging in dialogue with Muslim and Christian communities. Yet, even as these dialogues continue, Sangh governments carry on with destructive agenda targeting minorities. Sangh activists continue to advance through acts of violence, while BJP governments provide them with full support. And Bhagwat says that a Hindu can never exclude Muslims.

This means that Hindutva activists who subject Muslims and Christians to violence are not Hindus. Bhagwat acknowledges the truth that diversity is a law of nature. But will he reject the imposition of a uniform Hindutva culture on everything from language to food by crushing diversity? Will the Sarsanghchalak, who displays such generosity by claiming that Muslim and Christian minorities will be accommodated, recognise the equal right of ownership of this country enjoyed by all sections that have contributed to building it? The Hindutva fascist ideology of the RSS and the Sarsanghchalak, and the polarisation programmes they have been pursuing in accordance with it, are themselves proof that neither the RSS nor its Sarsanghchalak is prepared to do so. Therefore, Bhagwat’s statement can only be viewed as opportunistic. As Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge said, it should be seen as an event organised by an organisation that has been operating without registration for a hundred years, with the aim of collecting funds from the diaspora in the United States, Canada and Britain. There is nothing more than vested interests behind those who advocate a Hindu Rashtra in India speaking of universal humanity in America. Even after Bhagwat’s sermon on humanity, the RSS and the Hindutva Parivar will continue as before.