A political controversy has started over Mohan Bhagwat's dog and lion analogy during World Hindu Congress in Chicago.
Lamenting that the Hindus have been suffering for thousands of years, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has asked them to come together and organise themselves, saying "if a lion is alone, wild dogs can invade and destroy him".
Addressing a gathering of some 2,500 delegates attending the second World Hindu Congress here, Bhagwat, however, said the Hindus have no aspiration of dominance.
Reacting to this statement, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said, " So who are dogs and the lion? Indian Constitution defines everyone as humans & doesn't treat them as dogs or lion. The problem with RSS is that they don't believe in Indian constitution". Further reacting to Bhagwat's speech, Owaisi said," They (RSS) have their weird ideas to demean people by calling others dogs and assuming themselves as the tiger. This has been the language of RSS from last 90 years and I am not surprised. People of India will reject such crass and crude language".
Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh leader Prakash Ambedkar Saturday condemned RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's statement at the World Hindu Congress in Chicago, US. Condemning Bhagwat's statement, Ambedkar, while addressing a press conference here Saturday, claimed that the "dog" reference was for the "Opposition parties" in the country.
"I condemn this 'mansikta' (mentality) of Mohan Bhagwat that he has referred to Opposition parties in the country as dogs," Ambedkar said. He said parties have come and gone out of power but this mentality indicated that the ruling dispensation thinks that the Opposition cannot fight them. He claimed that it was this mentality that led to the imprisonment of RSS functionaries in 1949 by then deputy Prime Minister Sardar Patel.
The RSS members were released subsequently but the organisation has, ever since, been misusing its freedom, alleged Ambedkar. "I believe people should rethink before bringing them to power again," he said referring to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), an affiliate of the RSS.
In Chicago Bhagwat gave a clarion call for Hindu unity. "The Hindu society will prosper only when it works as a society," he said on Friday. "In initial days of our work, when our karkyakartas (workers) used to talk to the Hindus about organising them, they used to say 'sher kabhi jhund mein nahi chalta' (a lion never walks in a group). But even that lion or a royal Bengal tiger who is the king of the jungle, if he is alone, wild dogs can invade and destroy him." "Coming together of the Hindus is in itself a difficult thing," he said, adding the Hindu society has the largest number of meritorious persons.
Bhagwat said in the Hindu dharma, even a pest is not killed, but controlled. "The Hindus don't live to oppose anybody. We even allow the pests to live. There are people who may oppose us. You have to tackle them without harming them," Bhagwat said He noted that the Hindus had been suffering for thousands of years because they forgot to practice the basic principles of the Hinduism and spiritualism. He urged the participants to discuss and evolve a methodology to implement the idea of working collectively. "We have to come together," Bhagwat said, noting that all the people need not to register under one umbrella organisation.
"It is an opportune moment. We have stopped our descent. We are contemplating how to ascend. We are not an enslaved, downtrodden nation. The people are in dire need of our ancient wisdom, Bhagwat said.
Bhagwat said a sense of idealism is good and described himself not as "anti-modern", but as "pro-future". He sought to describe the Hindu dharma as "ancient and post-modern". In this context, he alluded to the war and politics in the Hindu epic Mahabharat, and said politics cannot be conducted like a meditation session, and it should be politics.
With PTI and ANI inputs
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