‘Losses will make Islamabad learn it is better to cooperate’: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat said on Sunday that India must continue to respond firmly to Pakistan’s provocations till the day “Islamabad learns it is better to cooperate than to compete.” “Delhi must speak the language they understand,” said Bhagwat while addressing a two-day lecture series titled “100 Years of Sangh Journey: New Horizons” in Bengaluru. “As long as Pakistan gets some satisfaction out of causing harm to Bharat, it will keep doing it. I don’t think they understand any other language. We have to make Pakistan understand. So we have to speak the language they understand. We have to be prepared for their repeated tries. We have to give a befitting answer, defeat them always, each time causing them some loss so that they repent.”

Bhagwat said that after a series of such consistent responses, Pakistan will eventually have to rethink its approach.

“If this happens repeatedly, then one day Pakistan will learn a lesson that it is better to cooperate than to compete or than to fight...” he added.

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‘Bhagwa was initially proposed as the national flag’

In reply to a question on the RSS flag and the national flag, Bhagwat said that the Sangh has always respected the Tiranga. “The national flag was first decided in 1933, and the flag committee unanimously recommended the traditional ‘Bhagwa’ for Swatantra Bharat, but Gandhi ji intervened, saying three colours with ‘Bhagwa’ on top,” he said.

“Sangh has always respected and protected the Tiranga. There is no question of Bhagwa versus Tiranga—it is Bhagwa and Tiranga both for us,” he added. He further pointed out that all political parties have their own flags. “Communist parties have red, Congress has Tiranga with charkha, the Republican Party has blue—so we have our Bhagwa, and we respect the national flag.”

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‘Muslims, Christians welcome in RSS. All sons of Bharat Mata welcome’

Bhagwat also said that people from all religions, including Muslims and Christians, are welcome in Sangh, but as members of a unified Hindu society.

The RSS welcomes people from all communities as long as they identify as children of Bharat Mata, he said.

“No Brahmin is allowed in Sangh. No other caste is allowed in the Sangh. No Muslim is allowed, no Christian is allowed in the Sangh. Only Hindus are allowed. So people with different denominations, Muslims, Christians, any denomination, can come to the Sangha but keep your separateness out,” he stated.

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“Muslims come to Shakha, Christians come to Shakha, as all other castes from the routinely called Hindu society. But we don’t take their count or ask who they are. We are all sons of Bharat Mata. That is how Sangh works,” Bhagwat added.

‘RSS a legal organisation’

In a intended response to Congress leaders who questioned the RSS’s registration and sources of funding, , Bhagwat said the Sangh has existed lawfully since 1925. “Sangha started in 1925. Do you expect us to register with the British government? Against whom?... We were banned thrice. So, the government has recognised. If we were not there, who would they ban? And each time courts resolved the ban, they dismissed the ban and made RSS a legal organisation...,” Bhagwat said.

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“Legally, factually, we are an organisation. We are not unconstitutional. We are within that constitution. Our legal status is within that constitution. So we need not register. Many things are there which are not registered. Even Hindu Dharma is not registered,” the RSS chief added.

Bhagwat said casteism no longer exists but “caste confusion” does, driven by electoral politics and concessions. “There is no need to eradicate caste; there is need to forget caste,” he said.