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Nobody is treated as a foreigner in India, says RSS chief in UK
LONDON: Reiterating the vision of Hinduism being the essence of India, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) president Mohan Bhagwat claimed here on Tuesday that India did not have a problem with various identities — home-grown or with roots outside — and said no one is treated as a foreigner, in spite of history.
Participating in a seminar on ‘Identity and integration’, Bhagwat recalled India’s long tradition of syncretism, and accused politics of ‘sometimes’ disturbing the unity in diversity in the country. The world today needed India’s example to resolve conflicts, he said.
Bhagwat was here for a weeklong visit, mainly to attend a three-day ‘mahashibir’ (camp) of the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), the UK version of RSS, which has grown exponentially since its foundation in 1966. The news media were kept away from the ‘mahashibir’.
“We have a glorious tradition of unity in diversity. We see diversity as the manifestation of unity, of a single inherent unit, of the underlying oneness. We have no problem with identities. Oneness and many-ness are not opposites; it is not so in our tradition,” he said.
“This unity in diversity… is being lived. Where to find it? Go anywhere, where Hindus live. Hindu is that identity that says all identities are respected, accepted and they are bound together by this magnificent oneness of ‘atman’. Hindu says diversity is to be celebrated. It enriches our unity,” Bhagwat added.
Presenting a picture of harmony in Indian society, Bhagwat said there were so many intermarriages and ‘mingling’ in everyday life that no one noticed it.
“We go to each other’s religious places… not only the identities who have origin in the land of Bharat, but also other identities acquired from outside… they come together and we celebrate their identities also. In spite our history we don’t treat anyone as a foreigner. A ‘gyani’ from every discipline was equally respected in the past, and that is what happens even now.”