NEW DELHI: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s comments that the DNA of all Indians is the same and those asking Muslims to leave the country cannot call themselves Hindus drew reactions on Monday from opposition and some community leaders who said actions on the ground should match words.
However, Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi hailed RSS chief’s remarks, saying the RSS ideology has always been full of harmony, brotherhood and nationalism, and it was the propaganda by “Bharat bashing brigade” that had painted a negative picture of the Sangh.
Addressing an event, organised by the minority wing of RSS on Sunday, Bhagwat said the DNA of all Indians is the same, irrespective of religion, and urged Muslims not to get “trapped in the cycle of fear” about Islam being in danger in India.
Those asking Muslims to leave the country cannot call themselves Hindus and those indulging in lynching people in the name of cows must know that they are against Hindutva, the RSS chief added.
Reacting to Bhagwat’s remarks, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said if he is true to his words, he must give directions that all those BJP leaders who have “harassed” innocent Muslims be removed from their posts, while AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi alleged that cowardice, violence and murder “are an integral part of Godse’s Hindutva thinking” and the lynching of Muslims is also the result of that.
On the RSS chief’s DNA remark, BSP supremo Mayawati said there is a difference between what the Sangh Parivar, the BJP and the government say and their actions.
She also said the RSS chief’s statement was like “Muh mein Ram, bagal mein chhuri”, a Hindi expression that roughly translates to someone who is two-faced.
Emphasising that in the past too, those in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), through their service to the people, did a lot of work for the unity of the society, Naqvi said but the ‘gumrahi (misleading) gang’, not only in India but in the world, always conspired to break the brotherhood and social fabric by creating hullabaloo about the Sangh.
Some opposition leaders also called on the Centre to frame a strong law against mob lynching.
“Actions should match words.
If they are so serious about mob lynching, why don’t they frame a law against mob lynching and also ensure it is implemented,” BSP’s Lok Sabha MP Danish Ali told PTI.
Congress’ minority cell chief Imran Pratapgarhi said his party has always demanded that there should be a strong law against lynching.
“Now that Mohan Bhagwat has also condemned lynching, I appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he should bring a law against lynchings so that such ‘terror acts’ can be reined in,” he said.
Strongly reacting to Bhagwat’s remarks on lynchings, Owaisi said those criminals who carried out lynchings may not know the difference between a cow and a buffalo but the names of Junaid, Akhlaq, Pehlu, Rakbar, Alimuddin were enough for them to kill.
“This hatred is the product of Hindutva and these criminals have the patronage of a government backing Hindutva”, the president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) alleged.
Owaisi referred to a number of violent attacks on Muslims allegedly by cow vigilantes over the past few years.
“Alimuddin’s killers are garlanded at the hands of a Union Minister…
the tricolor is laid over the body of Akhlaq’s killer…
a mahapanchayat is convened in support of the killers of Asif…,” he claimed.
“Cowardice, violence and murder are an integral part of Godse’s Hindutva thinking.
The lynching of Muslims is also the result of this thinking,” Owaisi said in a series of tweets in Hindi.
Tagging a report on the RSS chief’s remarks, Digvijaya Singh said, “Mohan Bhagwat ji, will you pass on these views to your disciples, preachers, Vishwa Hindu Parishad/Bajrang Dal workers also? Will you pass on these teachings to Modi-Shah ji and BJP chief minister also?” “Mohan Bhagwat ji, if you make it obligatory for your disciples to follow this thought, I will become your admirer,” the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister said.
Alleging that the RSS had instilled “hatred” between Hindus and Muslims, Singh said it was now not easy to remove the “seeds of hatred” that have been sown against Muslims from “Saraswati Shishu Mandir to the intellectual training provided by the Sangh.” Referring to Bhagwat’s remarks giving primacy to being Indian, he asked Bhagwat to explain this to his disciples first as they “advised me to go to Pakistan many times”.
Taking a dig at Bhagwat’s remarks, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera tweeted,”elders have rightly stated about this organization: They don’t do what they say and don’t say, what they do.” Aam Aadmi party MLA Somanth Bharti posted a video on Twitter which showed anti-Muslim slogans purportedly being raised at an event and said that in view of his recent brotherhood talk, “I would like to request Sri Mohan Bhagwat of @RSS_Org to lodge a police complaint against such attempts to poison minds of youth”.
“If he doesn’t do a thing against such attempts then his brotherhood talks are meaningless,” he added.
Shahi Imam of Delhi’s prominent Fathepuri Masjid, Mufti Mukarram Ahmed, said statements on Hindu-Muslim unity are welcome but actual targeting of Muslims on the ground must stop.
“We believe the targeting of Muslims should stop.
We don’t say it is being done by people of Hindutva, Hindus, Sikhs.
Whomsoever is doing it, action should be taken against them…He should also say that it is saddening to see such incidents,” he said.
Kamal Faruqui, member All India Muslim Personal Law Board, said Bhagwat’s statement would be meaningless until backed by action as those targeting Muslims are roaming freely.
“Mr Bhagwat should ask the Home Minister to take strong action against those people who are indulging in spreading hatred.
If action is taken then such statements have value otherwise they are just nice jumlas,” he said.
On lynchings and other such incidents, Naqvi said it is unfortunate that the “Bharat bashing brigade and misleading gang” have played a role in portraying criminal acts as communal incidents.
“A criminal incident is a criminal incident.
Such an incident should not be projected as a communal incident.
Action should be taken in such criminal incidents.
Mohan Bhagwat has said the same thing,” the Union minister said.