Nibedita on lips, RSS boss Mohan Bhagwat sings paeans on `Akhand Bharatiyata'

In Kolkata on Tuesday, RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat turned to Sister Nibedita to stress on the purity of “Bharatiyata“ that remained intact despite the influence of foreign forces like the Islam and the British.

“Many tributaries join the Ganga across its course, but the Ganga remains the Ganga,“ the Rashtriya Sawamsevak Sangh chief said at an event in the city.

Bhagwat justified his opposition to the Sachar committee report. “Some years back, one of my friends, who was an RS member and now runs an Urdu paper, asked me why I was against the report. He admitted that the people of the community to which he belonged were Hindus and they later embraced Islam. He referred to the ritual of Qawali, which is not sung outside Akhand Bharat, and said that they couldn't get over singing Bhajans. I advised him to convince his community about its origin and I said that if they could accept these ideas, I would call off my opposition to the Sachar report,“ he said.

“Over the years, there has been so many outside influences in Bharat and we digested all. Some time back, we had some indigestion (beech mein hazma kharab ho gaya). But now it's fine. Rabindranath Tagore once said that these two communities would never die fighting. They would find a way to stay together. And it would be a Hindu way.“

Indians need to get over the animosity for each other. “Sister Nivedita said there cannot be a nationalistic feeling in the country if people are aiming at each other's throat. We have to get rid of internal differences,“ Bhagwat said. “Old Communists and Congressmen had some strong ideologies. But now they are broken into pieces over ideological differences.“

Bhagwat's visit to the city had triggered a controversy with Mamata Banerjee's government refusing to give permission for the programme to be held at the state-run Mahajati Sadan auditorium. The organisers later opted for Science City, which is a larger venue. Bengal and Kerala featured in his Vijaya Dashami speech, where he stated that the state governments and their systematically politicised administrative systems are lending a helping hand for anti-national forces.