If Hindus think Muslims have no place, they cease to be Hindus: Bhagwat

New York: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Saturday said that Hindutva does not envisage a Bharat without Muslims, asserting that a person who believes Muslims should have no place in the country would cease to be a Hindu.

Addressing the ‘One World, One Humanity’ faith leaders’ conference in New York, Bhagwat said that Muslims had asked him during a dialogue about the RSS’s concept of a “Hindu Rashtra” and whether Muslims would be driven out of the country.

“I said, no, that is not Hindutva. If any Hindu thinks that there should be no Muslims in Bharat, he will not remain Hindu,” Bhagwat said. The statement has generated a sharp ideological debate over the meaning of Hindutva, the RSS’s vision of Hindu Rashtra and, particularly, the question of who has the authority to define Hindu identity and determine the conditions under which a person can be considered a Hindu.

During his New York address, Bhagwat stressed the unity of humanity despite differences of religion. “We live in a society where religions may be different, but humanity is one,” he said, adding that India’s tradition has been to provide shelter to people irrespective of their religious identity.

He also cited the RSS’s service activities to support his contention that the organisation does not discriminate on the basis of religion. According to Bhagwat, approximately 1.3 lakh service projects are being carried out by RSS volunteers with the assistance of society.

Recalling an incident in Dadri, Haryana, in which two aircraft from Muslim-majority countries were involved in a collision, Bhagwat said RSS volunteers were among the first to reach the site.