NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi on Wednesday praised the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s campaign against caste discrimination and untouchability, highlighting RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s call for shared temples, wells and cremation grounds.“The Sangh has continuously fought against untouchability and social discrimination. Mahatma Gandhi also openly praised the Sangh’s equality and fraternity,” said Modi while speaking at an event to commemorate Sangh’s centenary celebrations.In his speech marked by a tough pitch against infiltration, Modi emphasised that successive RSS chiefs have campaigned against caste discrimination. “Na Hindu patito bhavet (No Hindu can ever be fallen),” he quoted the second Sarsanghchalak as saying.
Illegal immigration threat to India’s demography: PM
Modi also cited the third Sarsanghchalak’s statement, “If Hindu untouchability is not wrong, nothing else is wrong in the world”, and referred to Bhagwat’s statement that no Hindu can be barred from accessing temples, wells and cremation grounds used by others.Modi said these ideals represented the Sangh’s effort to eliminate internal divisions and strengthen national unity. “No discrimination, no differences of opinion, no alienation of hearts — this is the basis of harmony,” he added.The reference to RSS’s stand against untouchability is significant in view of efforts of its ideological opponents to frame the organisation as a Brahmanical outfit. He also sought to rebut the allegation about Sangh’s aloofness from the freedom struggle by saying that its founder KB Hedgewar was jailed several times by the British authorities, while its workers supported and provided protection to freedom fighters.The PM doubled down on his stand against infiltration and warned that illegal immigration posed a grave threat to India’s demography and internal security. He also tied the Sangh’s message of social equality to the broader challenges facing India and underlined that the RSS’s social reform initiatives were inseparable from its nationalist credentials, pointing to the participation of its early leaders and volunteers in the freedom struggle.Many RSS workers faced British repression during the 1942 Quit India upsurge and the Chimur agitation, he said. “From the fight against the Nizam’s oppression in Hyderabad to the liberation of Goa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, the Sangh made many sacrifices,” Modi said, situating the organisation within the broader sweep of India’s anti-colonial and post-Independence struggles.
