New Delhi: The Sarsanghchalak of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Mohan Bhagwat, on Tuesday said lynching does not have its origin in India and sought to dissociate Indian tradition and history from the “foreign” phenomenon found in other religious texts of the country.
Speaking at the Vijayadashami speech at RSS headquarters in Nagpur, Bhagwat said, “There is an attempt by some people to defame the country, to use its diversity to spark rows. The term being used these days is ‘lynching’ – it never happened in Bharat. What is the origin of this term, there is old story regarding it is found in other religions.”
Bhagwat emphasised that by branding such incidents as lynching and denoting traditions that were alien to ‘Bharat’, efforts were underway to defame the country and entire Hindu society. “They are trying to create fear among the so-called minority communities. We have to understand that such a conspiracy is also being hatched,” he said.
To elucidate his point, he narrated the story of Jesus Christ who was passing through a street where stones were being pelted at a woman. Christ asked them the reason for attacking the woman and was told by the people that she was a sinner. He then intervened and told the people to hit her only if all those present have not sinned.
Bhagwat said, “This tradition is found in other religions. In our country, we find the tradition of brotherhood. In ancient India, Buddha stopped people of two villages from attacking each other over water issue. This is our tradition. But what is happening is small incidents are being played up for convenience. These issues require law and order agencies to intervene.”
He also said such violent issues are not one-sided. “There have been reports that members of a community in our society have been attacked by another community, making them victims of social violence. Such incidents have not been on sided.”
Bhagwat added: “There are reports of incidents happening from both sides and allegations and counter-allegations. It has also come to light that some incidents have been deliberately fabricated while some others have been published in a distorted manner. However, it must be accepted that these tendencies of violence have somehow or the other crossed the limits of the law and order and wreaked havoc by eroding the mutual relations in the society.”
This tendency is neither the tradition of our country nor does it fit into the spirit of the Constitution.
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