Mohan Bhagwat again says all Indians ‘Hindus’

A day after he asserted that “India’s diversity was a matter of celebration and not a problem”, RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat on Monday reiterated his old stand that every individual born in “Bharat is a Hindu”.

Mr Bhagwat, who had urged people to celebrate festivals of all religions to “strengthen” the unity of the country, also rejected the suggestion of a “Vishwadharmi Shriram Manavta Bhavan” at the disputed site in Ayodhya, asserting that only a Ram temple could be built there.

His remarks came at a time when the BJP has been claiming that the Ram temple is not going to be part of its agenda for the coming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

Mr Bhagwat was giving valedictory speech at a function here by a Pune based organisation, where Maharashtra minister Pankaja Munde was also present among others. Union minister Nitin Gadkari had inaugurated this seminar on ‘Global Indian Culture and Human Unity’ on Sunday.

At the event a suggestion was made that Mr Bhagwat should ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi to get a resolution passed in Parliament at the earliest for construction of Ram Mandir at the disputed site.

A resolution was also passed where among other issues, construction of ‘Vishwadharmi Shriram Manavta Bhawan’ at the disputed site was also mentioned. However,

Mr Bhagwat said that in a country of Hindus, only a temple for Lord Ram can be built at the place he was born.

He also pointed that delay in construction of the temple was because of “too much of politics” that got involved and was also the reason of the “dharmic kalah” that had been associated with it.

However, the RSS claimed that Mr Bhagwat’s usage of the word “Hindu” was a “connotation in a civilisational term” and the word reflects a way of life based on experiment “where any mode of worship does not allow to get hegemony position.”

“Bhagwatji and the RSS are committed to restore its (Hindu) original meaning and concept which got eroded under Mughals and colonial rule. Even the apex court had described it as a way of life.. We are part of a common civilisational string and we have common ancestors,” said RSS ideologue Rakesh Sinha.