India belongs to everyone: RSS leader

Against the backdrop of several incidents of clashes between two communities, senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar has given a call for unity and peace, saying India is a land of all major religions and it belongs to everyone. Addressing an event organised to mark Easter at west Delhi's Rajouri Garden on Monday evening, he said none of the religions or their messengers had ever taught hatred and animosity towards mankind, but it is "the reign of the devil" that makes people fight with each other as it runs parallel to "the reign of god".

"We need to identify this devil," the RSS leader said, adding, "Those who divide and instigate will lose. Those who will unite will win."

Noting that India is a land of all major religions, Kumar, a national executive member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), said, "This country belongs to everyone -- Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Kashmiris, Malayalis, Chhattisgarhiyas, Odias, Bengalis, Assamese. This is the country of Bapu (Mahatma Gandhi), Ambedkar, Guru Nanak, Ram, Krishna."


"When there are ways to fight, there are ways to unite as well. We have to decide whether we have to unite or fight," he added.

Kumar appealed to people to respect each other's religion and their systems of worship as "god is one".

"Festivals of all the major religions are celebrated this month every year and there is a message in it. God says, though I have different names and I am revered by varying methods of worship, I was one, I am one and I will remain one forever," the RSS leader said, adding, "God is one, but we humans have created the divisions."

He said there is nothing wrong in showing respect to each other's religion and their deities, and suggested that people should not even hesitate in participating in each other's festivals and sharing the joy "if possible".

"There is no threat to my religion, I do pranam (pay obeisance) to the cross visiting a church. If someone (a non-Muslim) bows down before a Mazar, there is no threat to his religion. If someone bows down before the god visiting a temple, there is no threat to his religion," Kumar said, adding that those who see a threat in doing so are "anti-god".

"Such people are not followers of Prophet Muhammad, Jesus Christ, Guru Nanak, Kabir, Rahim or Sanatan Dharma. They are all anti-god," he said.