Mohan Bhagwat reiterates Hindu-Muslim unity; 'Muslims who migrated to Pakistan are not respected'
"After partition, the Muslims who migrated to Pakistan have no respect there. There is a liberal culture in India,” RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said.
FollowNew Delhi: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RS) chief Mohan Bhagwat noted that ancestors of all Indians are the same and added that Muslims who migrated to Pakistan don't enjoy much respect and prestige there.
Speaking at the launch of the book - 'Veer Savarkar: The Man Who Could Have Prevented Partition', Bhagwat said India has a liberal culture of Hinduism.
"After partition, the Muslims who migrated to Pakistan have no respect there. There is a liberal culture in India. This is our cultural heritage. This culture binds us together. This is the culture of Hinduism. Savarkar had written that how the saffron flag of Hindu raja and green flag of Nawab stood together against the British rule," he said.
Bhagwat also calling for a harmonious society, said that Savarkar understood that the British could only rule India by creating divisions, as a result of which they worked towards fuelling radicalism.
Referring to Savarkar, the RSS chief said "Hindu nationalism" is about unity even as the country has different religious practices.
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"Savarkarji had said that the British had understood they can only rule India by creating divisions. So they worked towards increasing radicalism. After returning from Andamans, Savarkarji wrote in his book that Hindu nationalism is about unity despite different religious practices," Bhagwat said.
India's age-old culture of Hindutva and Sanatan Dharma is liberal, Bhagwat said, adding, "We inherited this culture and nobody can be differentiated due to their way of worshipping. Our (Hindus' and Muslims') ancestors are one. If this thought process had persisted at the time of the freedom movement, there would have been a way to stop Partition."
The Sangh chief said Britishers knew that "they had to divide and rule to survive and loot the nation" and Savarkar experienced this strategy of Britishers in Andaman prisons.
"Sir Syed Ahmed Khan had said that he is the son of Bharat Maa (in Lahore). It is only that his way of worship was Islam. This was the temperament of Bharat. The wave of radicalism was there in India in the past also. In history, where there was Dara Shikoh and Akbar at one side then there was Aurangzeb also who reversed the narrative. The names like Dara Shikoh, Hakim Khan Sur, Hasan Khan Mewati, Ibrahim Khan Gardi, Ashfaqulla Khan, and others should be commemorated," Bhagwat said.
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Parshottam Rupala, General (retd) VK Singh and others were also a part of the book launch occasion. In September, while speaking at an event organised in Pune, Bhagwat had said that Muslims and Hindus have the same ancestors and that every Indian citizen is a 'Hindu'.
