In the wake of religious conversion and the ghar wapsi row, including in tribal areas, the RSS on Sunday said the primary purpose of its volunteers working in tribal areas was to create awareness and improve the quality of life of the locals through service. On the concluding day of its Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha in Nagpur, the RSS maintained that Ram Mandir should be built at the earliest but as the matter is sub-judice therefore, “There is no point in taking any movement in this connection immediately. We have to honour the judiciary.”
Reiterating its stand that Hindutva was a way of life, the RSS maintained it has no issues with anybody adopting a particular form of worship, but when “the long-standing values are compromised, society faces a threat”.
The Sangh also passed a resolution asking the BJP-led government and the BJP-ruled states to impart education in the mother tongue of students or constitutionally-recognised state languages, saying those educated in a foreign language get “alienated” from their culture and tradition. The RSS said, while it was “fully supportive” of study of various languages, including foreign languages, it was its considered opinion that “for natural learning and to enrich cultural moorings, education, particularly elementary education, should be in mother tongue or state languages”.
“Hindutva is a lifestyle. We have no issues with people adopting a particular way to worship, but when that lifestyle is compromised, the society faces a threat. Age-old values and traditions of that way of life need to be preserved,” said RSS general secretary Bhaiyya Joshi.
When asked about the difference between the work done by Christian missionaries and RSS volunteers in the tribal areas, Mr Joshi said, “The primary purpose of the RSS volunteers working in tribal areas is to create awareness among the locals and bring about a qualitative change in their lives.”
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had also created a controversy recently when he had suggested that the main objective behind Mother Teresa’s service to the poor was conversion to Christianity.
He said initially, when the volunteers went to work in tribal pockets their intention was to protect the local culture, tradition and lifestyle. However, they soon found that the areas lacked even basic amenities like hospitals, schools and means of transport.
The resolution on the language issue states, “A student educated in a foreign language gets alienated from his surroundings, traditions, culture and values of life, at the same time one also loses his identity, remaining ignorant of ancient knowledge, science and literature.”
It said eminent thinkers like Mahatma Gandhi, Madan Mohan Malviya, Rabindranath Tagore, B.R. Ambedkar and S. Radhakrishnan and scientists, including C.V. Raman, P.C. Ray and J.C. Bose, had said it was both “scientific and natural” to impart education in the mother tongue. It also said several commissions like Radhakrishnan Commission and Kothari Commission had also made such recommendations.
Mr Joshi also said that the RSS was committed to protect the “gau vansh” and merely enacting laws to ban cow slaughter was not enough.