India celebrates diversity; Islam worship goes on safely despite its foreign invaders left: RSS chief Bhagwat

RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday said with defeat of the Islamic invaders the religion's influence shrunk globally, but its worship goes on safely in India.

“We all are children of this land and have the same forefathers, this fact should be accepted. This feeling unites us. Our distinct identities are secured only in India not outside India,” Bhagwat said while addressing at the concluding ceremony of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at its headquarters in Nagpur.

He further said it is "not appropriate to remain separate because of the false fear of losing your small identity", adding that if this feeling was not there then the country would not have been divided.


“It is only India which has always celebrated diversity, ask Jews, ask Parsis, they got shelter in our country,” he said.

Emphasising on 'emotional integration' despite different ways of worshipping, Bhagwat said, “Islam invaded the whole world, spreaded from Spain to Mongolia. Gradually the people there woke up, they defeated the invaders. So, Islam shrunk in its field of action. Now the foreigners have gone from here, but where does the worship of Islam go on safely, it goes on safely here."


He further said this co-existence of various religions has been going on for so many centuries. Not recognizing this, running a policy that maintains mutual differences, how will it happen if we do this?

Stating that India has completed seventy-five years of independence, Bhagwat said inauguration of new parliament building is a matter of pride while expressing concern about social tensions in the country, an apparent reference to violence in Manipur.

India got the presidency of G20, a new parliament building has been inaugurated, and we have seen its interior visuals. The country is witnessing the awakening which was required for our country is being tried, he said.

"Just like we are experiencing such pleasant feelings after 75 years of independence, similarly we are seeing a worrying scene in the situation. At the same time, so many types of discord are taking place in the country in so many places, disputes for language, creed, sects, facilities and not only disputes, but these disputes have increased to such an extent that we started doing violence among ourselves,” Bhagwat said.

Enemies who keep an evil eye on our freedom are sitting on the borders of our country, we are not showing our strength to them, we are fighting among ourselves, the RSS chief said amid ongoing violence among two different ethnic groups in Manipur.

He also said it is a matter of pride that India is growing and marching ahead amid economic challenges across the globe and in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic.

There were some special invitees at the concluding ceremony of RSS third year training campaign including TVS Capital CMD Gopal Srinivasan, Head of Shillong based Da Minto band Himmarsinh Parmar, badminton player Nihar Kelkar.

It was also announced at the event that head of Tripura’s royal family Pradyot Deb Barma, also came to Sangh headquarters here earlier in the day.