Latest Mohan Bhagwat Statement | मोहन भागवत का ताज़ा बयान 2024
Recently, amid the ongoing Mandir-Masjid dispute across the country, the statement of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Hindutva politics has gained traction. He mentioned that such Mandir-Masjid conflicts arise due to a few wannabes who aspire to establish themselves as leaders of Hindus.
Who is Mohan Bhagwat | मोहन भगवत कौन हैं?
मोहन भागवत भारत के हिंदू राष्ट्रवादी संगठन राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेवक संघ (आरएसएस) के वर्तमान प्रमुख या सरसंघचालक हैं। उनका जन्म 11 सितंबर 1950 को महाराष्ट्र के चंद्रपुर में हुआ था। वह एक पशु चिकित्सक भी हैं और 2009 से आरएसएस के नेतृत्व में हैं। उन्हें एक व्यावहारिक नेता के रूप में जाना जाता है और वह अविवाहित हैं।
This was the second time that the RSS chief has mentioned such a statement. It is even more important as it came after a violent dispute arose in UP’s Sambhal over the similar dispute. However, even after his remarks, 56 such sites were identified for the similar dispute. Interestingly, this was the first time in recent history that RSS chief saw serious dissent within the saffron ecosystem, as Jagadguru Swami Rambhadracharya said that he is not their disciplinarian. Further, ABSS (Akhil Bhartiya Sant Samiti) slammed RSS chief for his remarks and asked to let religious leaders decide the matter of religion.
This naturally leads to the question of why RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat is so concerned about such issues, because at the end, these incidents provide political mileage to their political wing, i.e., the BJP. Moreover, such incidents highlight the growing popularity of Hindutva as an ideology.
The Saffron Struggle
The very obvious reason that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s statement on the Mandir-Masjid dispute has gained attention is that such disputes facilitate the wannabes to establish themselves as leaders in the saffron ecosystem power struggle. Therefore, it is implied from this statement that this may lead to the weakening of RSS’s control over the saffron ecosystem. However, this would be superficial justification for the larger problem that the RSS chief is trying to solve here.
Hindu Fevicol: RSS’s Struggle for Hindu Unity in Hindutva Politics
Since its inception, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has believed that the lack of Hindu unity has made India vulnerable to historical Hindu-Muslim conflicts and foreign invasions. Moreover, it is important to understand the nature of Hindus as a community and religion. Vinay Sitapati has mentioned in his book Jugalbandi that the Hindu Dharma is quite different from Islam and Christianity.
In Islam there is Sharia, which provides structures and law for religiously ruled states, and in Christianity there is Vatican City, which looks over all the religious matters. Contrastingly, Hindu Dharma neither has any religious book nor an organisation that governs its followers. Therefore, having the consciousness of Hindu as the identity is quite weak among Hindus, and further building such consciousness is also difficult. RSS has developed the Hindu consciousness over the last 100 years, and now they see Ram Mandir as the “Mecca” for Hindus. Thus it may be possible that RSS believes that raising other religious disputes of the same sort will decrease the relevance of Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir, leading to a divided Hindu community. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat is concerned about the weakening of Hindu fevicol.
Lessons from Congress
RSS is also cautious about the fact that they do not follow the footsteps of Congress in the repeated division of party. Just to put things in perspective, Mamta Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress, Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress, Chandrashekhar Rao’s Telangana Rashtra Samiti, etc., all came into existence after being parted from today’s Indian National Congress. RSS is concerned about the fact that the mainstreaming of Hindutva and the weakening of Hindu Fevicol through such disputes can lead to the similar division of the saffron ecosystem too.
Conclusion
The book written by KK Munshi on the Somnath Temple, which was looted by Mahmud Gazni, is quite popular in the Sangh’s ecosystem. From Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Amit Shah, all have read this book and come to the conclusion that it was the lack of unity among the Hindus that allowed the foreign invasion that looted and destroyed us. This story forms the very essence of RSS’s Hindutva.
Therefore, Mohan Bhagwat’s statement on Hindutva politics and the Mandir-Masjid dispute signals the RSS’s concern over maintaining control within the saffron ecosystem power struggle while preventing the weakening of Hindu unity.