NEW DELHI, Oct 1: The Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday spoke on discrimination and untouchability, calling them a “big challenge” in the Hindu community.
Speaking at the centenary celebrations of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Delhi, PM Modi hailed the BJP parent body’s efforts in fighting such challenges in society and contributing to nation-building.
He said, “Issues like discrimination and untouchability that have been in society for decades are a big challenge in the Hindu community,” adding that “the Sangh has been consistently working on this serious problem.”
PM Modi recalled Mahatma Gandhi’s visit to a Sangh camp in Wardha and said he praised the spirit of equality, compassion and harmony within the organisation. “Every leader and member of the Sangh has fought against discrimination and untouchability. Every Hindu is part of one family,” he said.
“No Hindu can ever be patit (low or outcast),” the PM added. PM Modi recalled the words of former RSS chief Madhukar Dattatraya Deoras: “If untouchability is not sin, then there is no sin in the world.”
He said like every leader of the RSS, current Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat also set a clear goal before society for social harmony, an aim encapsulated in the vision of “one well, one temple and one cremation ground,” and not caste-wise different ones.
“India’s soul has always been rooted in unity in diversity. If this principle is broken, India’s strength will diminish,” the PM said, stressing the need to continuously reinforce this foundational ethos.
He said that “demographic manipulation” was a greater challenge than infiltration because it directly impacted the nation’s internal security and future peace.
RSS was founded in 1925 in Nagpur by Keshav Baliram Hegdewar and established as a volunteer-based organisation. PM Modi was also an RSS ‘pracharak’ before entering politics with the BJP.
Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh raised several questions to the RSS. He asked why a Dalit, backward class, or tribal person did not become the chief of RSS even once in 100 years.
“Why did your masters form a government by joining hands with Jinnah’s Muslim League? Why did you inform on the revolutionaries in the freedom movement?” Singh said, making allegations. He further said, “Why did you oppose the tricolour flag, which is India’s honour, pride, and glory? Why was the tricolour not hoisted at RSS headquarters for 52 years?” “We wouldn’t be of those, who couldn’t be of the nation,” Singh added in his X post.
(Manas Dasgupta)