India’s Hindu nationalist, volunteer organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Chief Mohan Bhagwat said on Tuesday (November 15, 2022) that everyone living in the country is a “Hindu” and has the same DNA.
He also said that no one needed to modify their ritualistic offerings, PTI reported.
He repeatedly emphasised unity in diversity as an inherent quality of India while addressing a gathering of Swayamsevak (Sangh volunteers) in Ambikapur, the administrative centre of Chhattisgarh’s Surguja district. The RSS chief also claimed that Hindutva is the only philosophy in the world that believes in “bringing everyone along.”
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Bhagwat was quoted by PTI as saying: “We have been telling since 1925 (when RSS was founded) that everyone living in India is a Hindu. Those who consider India as their ‘matrubhoomi’ (motherland) and want to live with a culture of unity in diversity and make efforts in this direction, irrespective of whatever religion, culture, language and food habit and ideology they follow, are Hindus.”
He said that Hindutva ideology values humanity and respects individual differences.
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The RSS chief said, “Hindutva is the only idea in the entire world that believes in unifying diversities because it has carried such diversities together in this country for thousands of years. This is the truth and you have to speak it firmly. On the basis of it we can be united. The Sangh’s work is to build individual and national character and bring unity among people.”
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According to RSS Chief Bhagwat: “…We had common ancestors. Every Indian who is part of the 40,000-year-old ‘Akhand Bharat’ has common DNA. Our ancestors had taught that everyone should stick to their faith and rituals and not try to convert others’ faith. Every path leads to a common place.”