RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat meets OBC, SC seers in Karnataka

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, who was on a two-day trip to Karnataka, reached out to at least 21 seers from Dalit and OBC mutts on Tuesday and assured them of the the organisation's support in their moves to fight social injustice at a "dialogue session" in Chitradurga. A day after this, he spoke at Chikkaballapur and said that the country was finally going through a "much-awaited transformation, after decades of slumber and preparing itself to provide the world a solution to many conflicts, using its human excellence and ancient wisdom."

"There is often a debate if there is one god, or are there many Gods. The Hindu answer to this is that there is god, nothing else. Because we see god in others, in love, in compassion. And whatever Bharat gives the world, there is humanness in it. Swami Vivekananda spoke about a transformation that India will go through. I finally see it happening."

"Some sections of our society have remained backward. It is the duty of Hindu society to keep all the sections of the society in good condition. Frequent contact, understanding each other is key. This is called Samrasta. The RSS has been trying to do the same for years," said Bhagwat.

Bhagwat said the RSS was working very seriously on its social cohesion programmes.

The meeting happened at Shiva Sharana Madara Chennaiah Mutt in Karnataka's Chitradurga district whose seer Madara Channaaiah Sree had earlier urged all SC, ST mutts and communities to stop fighting with each other to amplify their voice to make policy changes.

Bhagwat said there was no problem with the Hindu Shastras. "These issues have remained in our minds for several centuries. So, the solution will take time. It has to be slowly removed from the mind. Until then we must have patience and courage. That will happen," he said, asking them to try to understand the work the Sangh is doing in this regard.

He spoke against religious conversions too, saying, conversion breeds separate identities. "It keeps the converts away from the roots. So, we should try to prevent conversion." He also added the spirituality, not politics was what the Sangh invested in, and sees it as its duty to support the work of saints.

A senior RSS functionary said Bhagwat's move was not political, but an attempt to strengthen the social fabric in the State where mutts are influential and seen as important in making a social change.

It is important to note that Karnataka assembly polls are slated next year.

In Chitradurga and central districts particularly, the Dalit community’s votes depend on the endorsement of many of the seers who have been raising issues of the Madiga community, and also underrepresented sub-castes in SC/ST categories.

Many Dalit seers recently have also been flagging the non implementation of the recommendations of the Justice Sadashiva committee to ensure the classification of SC quota, and highlighting failures of the BJP government to fulfil its promise of alloting land for many activities of the mutt, such as anna dasoha and vidya daana.

Recently, at least two delegations of SC, OBC met the CM Basavaraj Bommai to raise the issue of the new textbooks, removing content related to BR Ambedkar and social reformers such as Narayana Guru. EOM