Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh does not seek domination and is indifferent to who comes to power, the Hindutva organisation's chief Mohan Bhagwat said Monday, as he launched an unprecedented outreach in a bid to allay apprehensions about its ideology.
In his nearly 80-minute long speech on the first day of the three-day conclave, Bhagwat also asserted that RSS is "most democratic" and not dictatorial, insisting that it neither imposes its ideology nor remote-controls its various affiliates, apparently rejecting criticism that the BJP is controlled by it.
Almost all major opposition parties gave the conclave "Bhavishya Ka Bharat -- An RSS Perspective" a miss though the RSS had invited them, while many BJP leaders, union ministers, Bollywood actors, artists and academicians attended it.
Bhagwat also said India's diversity must be respected, celebrated and it should not be a reason for any discord in society as he extensively talked about evolution of the nearly nine-decade old RSS and its vision for an inclusive India.
Bhagwat insisted that "Hindutva binds us together and our vision of Hindutva is not to oppose or demean anyone".
The mega outreach programme comes at a time when the Congress-led opposition has been ramping up attacks on the RSS, accusing it of promoting divisive ideology and attacking minorities.
Also Read
Talking about various ideologies that worked during the freedom movement, the 68-year-old RSS leader acknowledged the role of the Congress, which has been among the organisation's biggest critics.
"In the form of Congress, a big freedom movement had started in the country which gave many great personalities," he said.
"Who will be in power, what policy the country will accept is something to be decided by the society and people. There are mechanisms in place for that... We are not concerned about that, what we are concerned about is the conduct of the society," he said adding that RSS does not believe in publicising an individual's work and wants to remain faceless.
The comments assume significance as it is believed that the RSS had a key role in the victory of Modi-led BJP in 2014 and is widely expected to play an important role in the next year's Lok Sabha polls as well.
He also asserted, "We do not want RSS's domination, rather we believe that if the history writes that something good happened in the country because of Sangh's domination, then it will be a big defeat for us. What we want that the country should rise due to the efforts of the common man and its history and present is decided by him."
Bhagwat said, "People often believe that the RSS is a dictatorial organisation and that one man decides everything... If you want to see the most open organisation, then you should come to Sangh. There is no restriction. A RSS worker conducts himself in line with values given to him by organisation."
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content