Bengaluru: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Sunday stressed the need to “decolonise the mind” by fighting distorted narratives with “correct facts” established on every level of society against the backdrop of what Hindutva outfits see as the eulogising of Aurangzeb in some quarters.
Speaking in Bengaluru on the final day of the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha, RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale, while referring to the return of the 17th-century Mughal Emperor in the mainstream political discourse, also hailed Aurangzeb’s brother, Dara Shikoh, as a counter.
Last week, the controversy over Aurangzeb’s tomb led to violent clashes in Nagpur, allegedly after a crowd protested the burning of his picture and a chadar by the members of RSS affiliates Bajrang Dal and Vishva Hindu Parishad—who had been demonstrating for the demolition of the emperor’s tomb.
“If somebody is drawing inspiration from the invader, who wanted to finish the national ethos, who wanted to destroy the cultural heritage of this land, is an invader… And every society in the world has recorded these histories about their societies. In India, in Bharat, if somebody wants to present a distorted version or distorted narrative, this has to be fought,” Hosabale said Sunday.
“RSS has always said that political emancipation was possible on 15 August, 1947. But the mental colonisation continued. So, that is why decolonisation of the mind is a continued freedom struggle at the intellectual level,” he added.
The RSS is holding its centenary celebrations, with elaborate “expansion and consolidation” plans this year, including meetings of prominent figures at its mandal and basti (locality) levels to discuss issues of social and national importance. The objective, according to Dattatreya Hosabale, is “one nation-one culture”, that is, India having a cohesive ideological thinking throughout its lands.
Demonstrating his approval for Dara Shikoh, Hosabale said: “What has happened in India is that Aurangzeb’s brother, Dara Shikoh, was not made an icon. Those who advocate the Ganga-Jamuna culture never attempted to bring Dara Shikoh forward. The issue is that in India, are we going to move forward by icon-ising someone who has gone against the ethos of India or, are we going to go with those who worked according to the traditions of this land? That is the issue. Aurangzeb does not sit well here, but his brother Dara Shikoh does….”
Over the years, Dara Shikoh, the eldest son of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan, has become a symbol of resistance against the fundamental orthodoxy of his brother, Aurangzeb.
The release of the Vicky Kaushal movie, Chhavva, brought Aurangzeb back in the news, nearly five centuries after his death. Then, the Mahayuti leaders stirred up a row in the Maharashtra assembly.
Lending support to earlier statements by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Hosabale also emphasised that all those born in India were Hindus because their forefathers were Hindus.
On inter-caste marriages, he commented, “Intercaste marriages in the Sangh are not officially recorded, but they happen naturally…The Sangh follows a different approach… We emphasise that we are all Hindus.”
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‘No constitutional provision for religion-based reservation’
Not just Aurangzeb, a bone of contention has arisen in the socio-political landscape over the perceived and projected contributions of figures, such as Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and other Right-wing thinkers from the times of the Indian freedom movement. The political Opposition, especially the Congress, has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party and its ideological parent, the RSS, of trying to distort historical facts about the country’s freedom struggle.
The BJP and RSS, meanwhile, have backed each other on issues such as the proposed Waqf amendment bill and the push for religion-based reservations.
On the Congress-led Karnataka government’s proposal to introduce a four percent reservation for Muslims in public contracts, Hosabale said at the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha that there was no constitutional provision for such a move. “Religion-based reservation is not accepted in the Constitution.”
Hosabale said states such as Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra had made multiple attempts to bring religion-based reservations, but the courts had repeatedly blocked such tries.
Speaking about the Waqf amendment bill, Hosabale said the PM Narendra Modi-led government has, so far, proceeded in the right direction largely.
“The government has formed a commission on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, and we will see what they bring forward…The government has now taken steps by forming a joint parliamentary committee, and so far, it has proceeded in the right direction. We will see how the government and Parliament handle the matter,” he said.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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