Kolkata: In a bid to unite the country’s citizens irrespective of their religion or ideology, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat is said to have suggested to the outfit’s workers to reach out members of minority communities.
Recently, Bhagwat met the chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, Maulana Syed Arshad Madani in Delhi. Soon after, during his two-day visit to Kolkata, he urged Sangh workers to create a connection with people from all communities.
A senior Sangha worker in Bengal told News18, “Bhagwat told us that India can only be united if there is a spirit of nationalism among all of us. He said people may follow their own ideology or religion but ‘jatiyatabad’ (nationalism) is the only way to unity.”
“He asked us to embrace all, including Muslims, who believe in nationalism. He said there should not be any division when it’s comes to nation. Muslim nationalists are thinking in one way and we are thinking in another way, but all of us are concerned about our nation. So the point is to bring everybody under one umbrella for nation-building. He asked us to bond with one other,” he added.
Bhagwat’s meeting with Madani on August 30 in Delhi was reportedly to discuss the issues of national unity and nationalism. A day later in Kolkata, he urged the outfit’s workers to further their bonds with members of minority communities. He also asked them to not shy away from accepting mistakes if they failed to make common people understand what kind of social service the RSS did for people.
An RSS workers said, “Bhagwat told us that if the narrative is not clear then people (mainly non-political) would not understand what the RSS is all about and the misconceptions will remain. He asked us to clear such misunderstandings among people in Bengal to increase acceptability.”
Regarding bringing about a social change, Bhagwat reportedly told the workers that only political change can’t help India become a healthy society.
During his recent visit, he also told workers to have at least one ‘sakha’ (daily congregation) in each of the 341 blocks in Bengal. At present, there are 1,800 sakhas in Bengal but it has not covered all the blocks as it is not evenly distributed.
Local RSS workers also expressed their excitement while talking about Bhagwat’s meals in the city when he relished some Bengali delicacies after having spent some time at an ashram in north Kolkata. This was Bhagwat’s second visit to Kolkata in a month. Last time, it was a brief halt while on way to Guwahati to attend an event. On September 19, he will be back to the city.
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