Highlighting the risks posed by divisive narratives such as ‘Mandir-Masjid’ disputes, Mohan Bhagwat stresses the importance of embracing India’s pluralistic identity
Delivering a Sahjeevan Vyakhyanmala series lecture on the topic, India—the Vishavguru, the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat expressed his concern over the recent upsurge of ‘Mandir-Masjid’ disputes and pointed out: “After Ram Mandir, some think they can become leaders of Hindus by raking up similar issues in new places”. Rejecting the practice, he said, “This is not acceptable.” Echoing his comment on Gyanvapi Masjid that “We look for a Shivling beneath every mosque,” implying that we should not, he cautioned: “The days of hegemony are gone,” and that now “People choose their representatives, who run the government.” Questioning the “language of dominance,” he acknowledged the pluralistic nature of Indian society, where ‘tradition’ allows people to live in harmony while following their respective faiths. Drawing a comparison of India with the world, where similarity is the principle of unity, for India, he said, “Diversity is an ornament of unity, and we should respect and accept it.”
Rejecting hatred, malice, enmity, and suspicion daily under the burden of the past, he ruled out the ‘majority-minority’ binary and emphasised, “Everyone is equal here.” To be a Vishavguru, India should be a nation of people who can rise above caste and religious differences. By what he has said, Bhagwat has targeted more than one point while acknowledging the reality of about 200 million Muslims besides the Christians, Sikhs, and others in India, on the one hand, and the geopolitical realities, on the other.
If that is so, then the word ‘Hindu’ needs to be accepted as an Arabic-Persian cognate of the Sanskrit ‘Sindu’ and ‘Hindustan’ as a reference to the land of Hindus, i.e., the people living beyond the river Sindu, but not a place of and for the people of a specific religion. The historical chronicles state that the river ‘Sindu’ was pronounced as ‘Indus’ by the Greeks and ‘Al-Hind,’ which later became ‘Hinds’ or ‘Hindus’ by the Arabic Iranians.
The Greeks called ‘the land of Indus’ India, while the Arabic-speaking people called the region ‘Hindustan.’ It was a reference to the geographical region of old Punjab. The land of Hindus i.e. the people of river Sindu, called Hindustan or India in the above sense, is a land of several religious faiths, such as Shaivism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, besides the principles of ancient Vedas and Puranas, and the word ‘Hindu’ has been a geographic and a cultural identifier to distinguish between the indigenous people and others who came as traders or invaders, like Muslims, Christians, and Jews, etc., at the initial stages of their entry into the region; the distinction, however, did not mean religious opposition.