Marginalised communities must be brought into mainstream: Bhagwat

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Saturday said that to make the country ‘Vishwaguru’ in the true sense, it is necessary to bring marginalised communities into the mainstream.

Addressing a gathering after inaugurating sports grounds at a residential school for the Pardhi community at Khamgaon in Maharashtra’s Buldhana district, he said the communities we now describe as ‘bhatke-vimukt’ (nomadic and de-notified tribes) were once dispensers of knowledge. “Every person in the ‘bhatke and vimukt’ community is one of our own. Hence, it is my duty to have this perspective and do something for these people, so that their lives improve,” the RSS chief said. These communities were once repositories of knowledge, Bhagwat said.

“They went out (migrated) to share their knowledge selflessly, but over time became marginalised. During the British era, because they participated in the freedom struggle, the entire Pardhi community was branded as a criminal tribe, which caused them to fall far behind in development,” he said.

“If we want to make India a Vishwaguru, these marginalised elements of society must be brought into the mainstream,” the Sangh chief further said.

To achieve this goal, society must stand together with “everyone having equal strength,” Bhagwat said.

Every family and every individual should have education and basic necessities of life, and the entire society should work towards this goal without merely depending on the government, he added.

The Indian society was once fully organised, but it was enslaved by foreign invaders, which led to its fragmentation, the RSS chief said.

“As a result, the number of marginalised groups in society increased. Even so, these communities never accepted subjugation; they continued to struggle for freedom,” he said, adding that the Sangh has been working for years for the development of the Pardhi community.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Ambadas Danve was also present at the event.