RSS Has Never Approved of Violence, Says Mohan Bhagwat

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Tuesday said the Sangh’s leaders have always opposed violence.

He was speaking at the release of a Marathi translation of a biography of RSS leader late Laxmanrao Inamdar, written in Gujarati by Narendra Modi (who was then a Sangh worker) and Rajabhai Nene decades ago.

Referring to the famous Baroda dynamite case during the Emergency in which socialist leader George Fernandes was arrested, Bhagwat said, “I was around 25 years old then. After the Baroda dynamite case, we youth felt we can do some act of daring. The youth like conflict and daring, but Laxmanrao Inamdar dissuaded us, saying these were not the teachings of the RSS.” Inamdar further told them that while the government of prime minister Indira Gandhi had completely disrespected the Constitution, it was not the British Raj and the RSS did not approve of violence, Bhagwat added.

“The foundational thoughts of the RSS are positive and we are not here to oppose someone,” he said.

Inamdar, who hailed from Satara in Maharashtra, is said to have had a major influence on Prime Minister Modi’s life.

The RSS chief also said that organising Hindus did not amount to opposition to Muslims and Christians.

“Sometimes there is a reaction to some action. Sometimes tit-for-tat type of reaction takes place, but in the true sense, peace and tolerance are the values of Hindutva,” Bhagwat said.