Over two weeks after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s speech on rising temple-mosque controversies created a stir, RSS-affiliated magazine Organiser has published a piece with translated portions of the speech on its website.
This was done “to ensure that the statement was not seen in isolation and its correct context, that is India’s road to becoming ‘Vishwaguru’, was understood”, RSS sources told The Indian Express. The Indian Express said that different interpretations of Bhagwat’s statement in the media “appear to have confused the RSS cadres”.
At a lecture series on “Bharat – The Vishwaguru” in Pune on December 19 last year, Bhagwat had said in Marathi that the Ram Temple in Ayodhya was a matter of faith but it was “unacceptable” to stir up new disputes daily, driven by “hatred, malice, and enmity”. Several Hindu seers objected to the remarks while opposition parties took a dig at the RSS and the BJP.
Days later, Organiser’s editorial and cover story steered clear of Bhagwat’s cautionary statement, arguing that the demand for truth in the context of religious spaces that were historically invaded or demolished is a necessary undertaking.
The Indian Express, in a Delhi Confidential brief on Monday, said that The Organiser carried a literal translation of the speech. Though the piece on the website published Friday last week has no mention of the Ram Temple. It states:
“Those who are the keepers of this sanskriti must remember, fear arises only because we are disorganised. Become united, get empowered. Increase your potential so much that those who try to scare you, must feel scared themselves to see you as enemy. But do not scare others. Be that Bharatiya,” he gave a call. In this context, he warned about raising new issues daily, leading to social discord. He said, “But how can raking up new issues every day thinking that we can become a leader of Hindus, or create extreme hate, doubt, enmity due to the weight of past horrors be tolerated? This cannot go on. In the end, what is our solution? We have to give the world a model to emulate if we want to show them we can live harmoniously with each other.”
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