A day after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s remarks on Hindutva and Hindu Nation, political parties have accused the organisation of “fooling the people” by using words and language to provoke tension in the country.
While senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh described the RSS chief as “Hitler” and said that Sangh should stop “fooling” people, Samajwadi Party said that the RSS people use language to provoke social tension. Criticising Bhagwat’s comments on Sunday, the CPI(M) said such “provocative statements” were being made ever since the BJP formed the Government
“I thought we had one Hitler in making but it seems now we have Two! God save India!” said Singh in one of his series of tweets on Bhagwat’s controversial comments.
Bhagwat in the golden jubilee celebrations of VHP on Sunday had said, “Hindustan is a Hindu nation...Hindutva is the identity of our nation and it (Hinduism) can incorporate others (religions) in itself”.
The former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh through his tweets also posed queries to Bhagwat whether Hindutva is a religious identity or what is its relationship with Sanatan Dharma. Singh also sought clarification from Bhagwat whether a person who believes in Islam, Christianity, Sikh, Budhism, Jainism or any other religion is also a Hindu
Wondering “does word Hindu or Hindutava figure in any of our Veda, Upanishad, Gita, Puran or any other of our religious scripture IJ, Singh tweeted in a separate message and later remarked that RSS should stop fooling the innocent people by using religion in politics. “We are proud of our Sanatan Dharm and its tolerance towards others,” Singh, also a known detractor of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said.
Former Union Minister Manish Tewari alleged that there was a “concerted efforts” to polarise the country on religious lines. “It is very evident that with the active connivance of the Central Government there is an attempt at religious polarisation...The cultural identity of India is not of a monolithic State. India is not Pakistan,” he said.
SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary accused the Sangh of practising politics of “hatred and separatism.” “They use such words and language to fan social tension,” Chaudhary said.
Former Union Minister and Congress spokesman Anand Sharma said there have been ominous signs of communal terror, violence and polarization which also confirm that BJP and RSS speak with forked tongue and lack sincerity and conviction towards what Prime Minister Narendra Modi said from ramparts of Red Fort.
Strongly opposing the RSS chief remarks, the CPI(M) said such “provocative statements” were being made ever since the BJP has formed the Government. Observing that various statements made by Bhagwat on the issue militated against the secularism, the party Politburo said, “Hindutva is a majoritarian concept which is part of the narrow and divisive agenda of the RSS.”
“These provocative statements are designed to impose a majoritarian Hindu concept of the nation. The RSS and its various outfits are making a plethora of such objectionable statements ever since the BJP formed the Government,” the CPI(M) said. It asked the people to “reject such divisive statements” and uphold their unity “based on their common citizenship irrespective of caste and creed”.