The Hindu : National : “Muslims must remove trust deficit”

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National

“Muslims must remove trust deficit”

Special Correspondent

Mohan Bhagwat

NEW DELHI: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Tuesday indicated that his organisation's response to the expected Ayodhya verdict later this month would be within the legal, democratic and constitutional framework of the country.

He signalled that one party or the other involved in the dispute would appeal to a higher court, the Supreme Court.

However, he left no one in doubt about the core RSS belief: Muslims did carry the burden of proving their “patriotic credentials” and had to “remove the trust deficit” by helping to build a Ram temple in Ayodhya. For only then a “clear message would be sent out” that Muslims do not look “outside the country” and “no one will be able to point fingers at them and describe them as unpatriotic.”

He was interacting with women journalists at the Indian Women's Press Corps.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Bhagwat projected the RSS as a liberal organisation not dogmatic about the “different forms of worship (‘pooja padhiti')” by different religious communities in India. For his organisation “Hindus” meant “all those who are children of Bharat Mata,” he said.

If ‘pooja' and ‘namaz' were equally acceptable but different forms of worship, why demolish a mosque at Ayodhya and why insist on building a Ram temple in its place? If the RSS was serving the cause of social harmony and unity, then why did it not agree to both a temple and a mosque at the site or a hospital or a school to serve people of both the communities? Mr. Bhagwat's response to these questions was: “a temple had been destroyed at the spot [by the first Mughal Emperor Babur]” and “Ram was a cultural icon of India for Hindus as well as ordinary Muslims and Ayodhya was his ‘janmasthan.' ”

Will he appeal to the people to remain calm when the verdict on the decades-old dispute is delivered? He did not make any appeal but said there would be no ‘jhanjhat' (problem) from the RSS and its organisations as the RSS “did not believe in violence.” If the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh was in a state of full alert “that is the job of the government.”

Repeatedly he signalled the matter was in the hands of the ‘sants' who would lead the show. And it was the ‘sants' who would decide the Kashi-Vishwanath and Mathura-Krishna Janmabhoomi issues as well. “They will consult [us] when they need to.”

When directly asked, he refused to give any commitment on giving up – or persuading others to give up – the Kashi-Mathura temple-mosque issues if a Ram temple was indeed built in Ayodhya. “Those issues will be decided by the ‘sants', ” he said, ignoring the fact that the so-called ‘dharma sansad' (parliament of ‘sants') is a body created and controlled by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which in turn is an RSS-affiliate.

Yes, the Bharatiya Janata Party had “gained a lot [politically]” from the Ram temple “movement” of the late eighties and early nineties. “It is now for the BJP to think what it wants to do [to join another movement or not].

He evaded a question that possibly the Ram temple issue had lost its earlier appeal, and that could explain the BJP's silence on the issue at the moment. As for the RSS: “We are not here to garner votes. We are committed to the building of a grand temple at Ayodhya.”

Asked about “saffron terror,” his response was that the government should catch and punish those found guilty of any terror activity, but no one should drag the name of organisations (the RSS) which have nothing to do with it. “Just think what message we will be giving to the world at a time when internationally Pakistan is seen as a rogue nation on the terror issue. Do we want India to be described in the same way?”

On Kashmir, Mr. Bhagwat reiterated the known views of the RSS against abolition of Article 370 of the Constitution and conceding “autonomy” or ‘azadi' to Kashmiris. “Special status breeds the separatist mindset, which has happened. There should be an attempt to integrate Kashmir with the rest of India. Take people into confidence, win their trust … the Government failed on that front.”

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