The Real Message of Assimilation

We must revive once again the parakrama-vad. For that, we should make it clear that the non-Hindu who lives here has a rashtra dharma (national responsibility), a samaja dharma (duty to society), a kula dharma (duty to ancestors), and only in his vyakti dharma (personal faith) he can choose any path which satisfies his spiritual urge. If, even after fulfilling all those various duties in social life, anybody says that he has studied Quran Sharif or the Bible and that way of worship strikes a sympathetic chord in his heart, that he can pray better through that path of devotion, we have absolutely no objection. Thus he has his choice in a portion of his individual life. For the rest, he must be one with the national current. That is real assimilation”.  – Sri M S Golwalkar (Guruji),  Second Sarsanghachalak, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh 

What can be termed a landmark speech on the Hindu-Muslim relations by RSS Sarsanghchalak Dr Mohan Bhagwat has evoked multiple reactions on expected lines. Various sections of society, including Muslim intellectuals, welcomed the message of unity and assimilation. The obvious ones came from the RSS-haters, who use the nationalist organisation as a punching bag. The limitations of their politics have already been exposed, so their reactions are not even worth considering. The most ruthless and baseless reactions came on social media platforms by celebrities who vouch for the Hindu cause. Through this speech, ‘Sangh has diluted the cause of Hindutva and confused the Hindus’, was their generic tone. It was mainly based on the media headlines of ‘DNA of all Bharatiyas is same’ and ‘people indulging in lynching are not Hindus’. To understand the importance and context of these two utterances, we need to decode the entire speech.

First of all, the RSS Sarsanghchalak was not addressing the Sangh Swayamsevaks or the Hindu society. Through Muslim intellectuals gathered at a book release function organised by a forum called Rashtriya Muslim Manch, Dr Bhagwat was addressing the Muslim population of Bharat. While doing so, he was speaking from the position of strength.  Without any attempt of image makeover or project of political exercise, he made it clear that the message given by the book was sincere, so he accepted the invitation.  

More significantly, he did not dilute the position vis-a-via the Sangh exposition of Hindu Rashtra. One motherland, shared culture, and the same ancestry are the three fundamentals of our nationhood, which defines the Hindu Rashtra. While explaining these fundamentals of Hindu Rashtra, his message against theocracy and the practice of conversion was unambiguous. Accepting and respecting the diversity of faiths is a pre-condition to be part of the Bharatiya Sanskriti. He, in fact, called out the ills of ‘Islamic aggression’ and the root causes of Hindu-Muslim tensions and rioting. No one would do that in order to appease.

What Dr Mohan Bhagwat did through this speech is nothing but an extension of what Shri Golwalkar Guruji talked about while prioritising Rashtra-Dharma, Samaj-Dharma and Kula-Dharma over –Vyakti-Dharma (Religion). Manifesting the spirituality based life and world view in all aspects of life has been the essence of Hindutva. That is the only way to achieve assimilation in Bharat. There is no concept of ‘exclusion’ in Bharatiya languages, as explained by Swami Vivekananda in his Chicago speech. On the same lines, Hindu Rashtra cannot think of a society by eliminating some sections. The Sarsanghchalak just communicated this position to the Muslim intellectuals. 

Bharat had succeeded in assimilating all invading hordes into its society. Historically, there have been several attempts to integrate Muslims, too, into the national mainstream but each time forces within represented by regressive but influential clergy scuttled every effort for unity. In recent times, it happens mainly due to the mindset of giving concessions to Muslims at the cost of the majority. Without addressing the fundamentals of Islam on the cultural and religious grounds to tune it to the Bharatiya traditions, unity or assimilation merely with political and economic considerations, is not possible is the clear message. Though multiple Islamic faiths exist only in Bharat with the common civilisational values, the combination of political and religious leaders creates discord. This process, in turn, instills the seeds of ‘minorityism’ and separatism.   

The Sangh initiated the dialogue long back; this was the public pronouncement of the same. Ghettoism and fear-psychosis are not the means to build a powerful, prosperous and peaceful nation, which was the underlying point of the entire speech. RSS would, in any case, continue the core project of national reconstruction through character building. It is for the Muslim intellectuals whether to guide the community towards assimilation by devising reforms based on intellectual churning or continuing with the ‘separatist’ mindset based on a phobia of some kind created by the ‘Islamist-secularist’ combination.  
 

@PrafullaKetkar