NAGPUR: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Monday said that NDA‘s return to power after a decade when it was in office was a testimony to the good things that happened on its watch, even as he cautioned the political class not to treat difference of opinion as disputes and emphasised the need for evolving a consensus on the challenges facing the country.
In his first public address post Lok Sabha poll results, Bhagwat criticised all sides for using falsehoods and using vituperative language during the campaign, saying the electoral discourse violated the decency that parties are expected to observe.“Your opponent is not an adversary, he only represents a counter viewpoint,” Bhagwat said as he expressed dismay over using technology for promoting false narratives and even “dragging RSS” into the electoral combat.
“Elections are a necessity in a democracy and two sides compete against each other. However, there should be a degree of restraint, which should not be forgotten. Technology was used to spread lies about RSS which is a gross misuse of knowledge. The noble use knowledge for good, the evil misuse it,” he said.
He praised the NDA govt for its performance in diverse fields. “It is a fact that we have done well on many counts in the period. Going by the parameters used by the modern countries to judge economic progress, we have done well. In defence, we are clearly stronger. We have done well in arts, culture, sports and science while the prestige of our country has gone up. Even developed foreign powers are now constrained to listen what we have to say,” said Bhagwat in remarks which may appear to be significant in view of the perception in certain quarters about RSS’s unhappiness with BJP.
However, Bhagwat, the top voice in Sangh Parivar, also cautioned saying that the process had to be carried forward to liberate country from the challenges still besetting it.
Amidst the drift of a section of dalits to the opposition — a factor which is considered to have contributed to BJP’s below-par performance — Bhagwat focused on bridging the caste divide by reiterating the words of the third sarsanghchalak, Balasaheb Deoras, who had said that untouchability needed to be removed “lock, stock and barrel”.
“Injustice has happened in society and it has left an acrimony in the mindset even today. There is no reference to untouchability in the scriptures like Vedas or Upanishads. It’s only a mind work of selfish elements. The custom may have been formed at some point for a particular time-period, but it needs to be eradicated now,” said Bhagwat. He called upon swayamsevaks to make it a point to establish personal relations with people of all social segments.
Criticism of the election rhetoric formed an important part of Sangh chief’s address at the passing-out ceremony of over 900 swayamsevaks, who completed the final stage of training at the Hedgewar Smruti Mandir campus here.
“There is a dignity to the election process. People are being elected to Parliament and run our country. They should do so by consent. Need of the hour is to take everyone along. A contest is not a war in which criticism peaks to ugly levels. And this is not the way a campaign is run,” he said.
Congress and PM have both accused each other of lowering the quality of discourse, with the former saying that PM used polarising themes. Bhagwat, however, refrained from blame-apportionment even as he echoed the concern over use of Artificial Intelligence and deep fakes to promote lies. He denounced the way technology was used to propagate falsehood.
There are big challenges before the country, he said with a piece of advice for the govt over the state of affairs in Manipur. “Manipur continues to burn and nobody is paying attention towards the north-eastern state. Addressing Manipur should be the govt’s priority now. There was peace for nearly 10 years, and we thought the gun culture had ended and suddenly mayhem happened,” said Bhagwat. He also backed environmental protection, increasing green cover and water conversation.
The guests of honour at the event included heir to the Piramal Group and Mukesh Ambani’s son-in-law Anand Piramal, Bharat Biotech chief Krishna Ella and actor Nana Patekar’s son Malhar.
In his first public address post Lok Sabha poll results, Bhagwat criticised all sides for using falsehoods and using vituperative language during the campaign, saying the electoral discourse violated the decency that parties are expected to observe.“Your opponent is not an adversary, he only represents a counter viewpoint,” Bhagwat said as he expressed dismay over using technology for promoting false narratives and even “dragging RSS” into the electoral combat.
“Elections are a necessity in a democracy and two sides compete against each other. However, there should be a degree of restraint, which should not be forgotten. Technology was used to spread lies about RSS which is a gross misuse of knowledge. The noble use knowledge for good, the evil misuse it,” he said.
He praised the NDA govt for its performance in diverse fields. “It is a fact that we have done well on many counts in the period. Going by the parameters used by the modern countries to judge economic progress, we have done well. In defence, we are clearly stronger. We have done well in arts, culture, sports and science while the prestige of our country has gone up. Even developed foreign powers are now constrained to listen what we have to say,” said Bhagwat in remarks which may appear to be significant in view of the perception in certain quarters about RSS’s unhappiness with BJP.
However, Bhagwat, the top voice in Sangh Parivar, also cautioned saying that the process had to be carried forward to liberate country from the challenges still besetting it.
Amidst the drift of a section of dalits to the opposition — a factor which is considered to have contributed to BJP’s below-par performance — Bhagwat focused on bridging the caste divide by reiterating the words of the third sarsanghchalak, Balasaheb Deoras, who had said that untouchability needed to be removed “lock, stock and barrel”.
“Injustice has happened in society and it has left an acrimony in the mindset even today. There is no reference to untouchability in the scriptures like Vedas or Upanishads. It’s only a mind work of selfish elements. The custom may have been formed at some point for a particular time-period, but it needs to be eradicated now,” said Bhagwat. He called upon swayamsevaks to make it a point to establish personal relations with people of all social segments.
Criticism of the election rhetoric formed an important part of Sangh chief’s address at the passing-out ceremony of over 900 swayamsevaks, who completed the final stage of training at the Hedgewar Smruti Mandir campus here.
“There is a dignity to the election process. People are being elected to Parliament and run our country. They should do so by consent. Need of the hour is to take everyone along. A contest is not a war in which criticism peaks to ugly levels. And this is not the way a campaign is run,” he said.
Congress and PM have both accused each other of lowering the quality of discourse, with the former saying that PM used polarising themes. Bhagwat, however, refrained from blame-apportionment even as he echoed the concern over use of Artificial Intelligence and deep fakes to promote lies. He denounced the way technology was used to propagate falsehood.
There are big challenges before the country, he said with a piece of advice for the govt over the state of affairs in Manipur. “Manipur continues to burn and nobody is paying attention towards the north-eastern state. Addressing Manipur should be the govt’s priority now. There was peace for nearly 10 years, and we thought the gun culture had ended and suddenly mayhem happened,” said Bhagwat. He also backed environmental protection, increasing green cover and water conversation.
The guests of honour at the event included heir to the Piramal Group and Mukesh Ambani’s son-in-law Anand Piramal, Bharat Biotech chief Krishna Ella and actor Nana Patekar’s son Malhar.
