Vijayadashami Utsav: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat says India’s diversity must be accepted, protected

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Tuesday said India’s diversity of faiths, regions, castes, languages, food habits and traditions must be accepted and protected, calling for stronger emotional bonds to maintain the country’s unity.

Addressing the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) Vijayadashami Utsav in Nagpur, Bhagwat said the organisation’s work over the past 100 years had focused on awakening national self-awareness and making India stronger and self-reliant.

“India is a land of diversity. It has immense natural diversity, as well as diversity in faiths, regions, castes, languages, food habits, customs, and traditions,” Bhagwat said, adding that the country needed “a foundational principle that accepts and embraces all these diversities” to continue moving forward as one.


Also read: Attack on Tiger Shroff: Calls for resignation of Devendra Fadnavis, prez rule

He said respect for diversity was embedded in India’s philosophical traditions and had been part of the country’s character for generations.

“Our tradition teaches us to respect and accept every form of diversity and to provide protection and support to all. This has been our inherent nature for generations,” he said.

Bhagwat added that traditions must adapt to changing circumstances while eternal truths remain steadfast. “Therefore, whatever is changeable in life must evolve with changing times, while eternal truths must remain steadfast. This flexibility is itself a consequence of our eternal, or Sanatana, worldview,” he said.

Emphasising national unity, Bhagwat said divisions had weakened India in the past, leading to centuries of colonial rule.

Also read: "BJP has turned Goa into its piggy bank": Congress leader Rahul Gandhi

“We became divided and weakened. Then we kept falling lower and lower, until we had to endure hundreds of years of slavery,” he said.

“Now, after gaining freedom from that slavery through the tremendous efforts and sacrifices of many great leaders and countless people, we have begun walking on the path of unity and progress,” Bhagwat added.

He said the circumstances facing the country today demanded greater effort than during the period of India's independence and the RSS’ founding.

“The Chief Guest mentioned the atmosphere that existed at the time of India's independence and during the founding of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). It was a different era…Today, the circumstances demand even greater effort than what was required then. When we look at the present situation, this becomes evident,” he said.

Bhagwat linked the RSS’ centenary-year work to ‘svabodh’, or awareness of India’s identity and ethos. He said this sense of collective identity was reflected in the Constitution’s Preamble, which begins with the words “We, the people of India”.

“The work the RSS has been carrying out for the past 100 years is also aimed at awakening this sense of national identity. Rooted in India’s identity and history, this effort seeks to organise the country and make it strong and self-reliant,” he said.

Bhagwat also recalled Swami Shraddhanand, Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and Shrimad Rajnarayan Basu.

He said this year marked the centenary of the martyrdom of Swami Shraddhanand, whom he described as an Arya Samaj ascetic, educationist, pioneer of the Shuddhi movement and freedom fighter. The birth centenary of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati was also being observed, Bhagwat said, noting his work among tribal communities in Odisha.

He also referred to the 200th birth anniversary years of Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and Bengal’s Shrimad Rajnarayan Basu.

Recalling Sant Ravidas, Bhagwat said that during attacks by foreign invaders on people following their faiths and traditions, the saint spread the message of ‘svadharma nishtha’, social harmony and devotion.

“With the example of his own life, he gave comfort to the society of the time and boosted their morale, while upholding their quality,” Bhagwat said.