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Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat has said that Hindutva does not envisage an India without Muslims, asserting that anyone who believes Muslims should have no place in the country cannot call themselves a Hindu. The statement has drawn criticism from Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge, who accused the RSS chief of changing his language when addressing audiences abroad.
Bhagwat was speaking at a multi-faith event titled ‘One World One Humanity’ in New York on Saturday, August 29, organised by American Hindus for Engagement and Dialogue (AHEAD). The event, described as a Raksha Bandhan gathering, focused on the idea of universal oneness and the Hindu philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, or the world being one family. Bhagwat added that the RSS’s idea of a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ did not mean excluding people of other faiths.
Reacting to the remarks, Priyank questioned the contrast between Bhagwat’s message of religious harmony in the US and RSS’s advocacy of a “Hindu Rashtra” in India.
“Quite a transformation in language when the audience changes,” Priyank said adding that the RSS had, for a century, propagated the idea of a Hindu Rashtra in India and alleged that the organisation was using Bhagwat’s three-nation tour and its message of ‘Universal Oneness’ to mobilise funds from the Indian diaspora.
He also questioned the role of the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, which he described as the RSS’s overseas wing, in diaspora mobilisation, and raised questions about AHEAD, the organisation that hosted Saturday’s event.
Priyank alleged that AHEAD presents itself as an organisation promoting interfaith dialogue and an inclusive future, but claimed that it was founded by people associated with the RSS ecosystem.
He called for scrutiny of the networks involved in the RSS’s overseas outreach and fundraising, adding, “Follow the network. Follow the fundraising. Follow the money.” He concluded by reiterating his demand that the RSS be registered.
In his speech, Bhagwat said he had previously been asked by Muslims what the RSS’s vision of a Hindu Rashtra meant for them and whether they would be driven out of India. “I said no, that is not Hindutva. If any Hindu thinks that there should be no Muslims in Bharat, he will not remain Hindu,” he said.
The RSS chief said different religions may follow different paths, but humanity remains one and every individual has dignity. “If you want to call yourself Hindu, you must believe that all paths lead to the same. And every human has dignity. There is no difference between human beings,” he said.
Drawing a comparison between the United States and India, Bhagwat said pluralism was associated with America while India was associated with “unity in diversity”. “For Bharat, this unity and diversity, both are in their DNA,” he said.
He also cited the RSS’s relief and service activities as an example of its approach towards people of different faiths. Recalling the 1996 mid-air collision over Charkhi Dadri in Haryana, in which 349 people were killed, Bhagwat said RSS volunteers had reached the site and helped recover bodies and arrange funerals.
He said the volunteers did not distinguish between victims on the basis of religion, noting that most of those killed were Muslims. “We don’t have the thought that they are Muslims,” Bhagwat said.
According to him, the RSS currently runs around 1.3 lakh service projects with the support of volunteers and society. He said the organisation had also expanded its engagement with Muslims and Christians since 2018, describing dialogue and service as important steps towards social cohesion.
Bhagwat said the belief that humanity is one was rooted in India’s traditional thought as well as the Constitution. He argued that social change could not be achieved through politics alone and called for initiatives based on dialogue, service, and unity.
“Where there is ‘me’ and ‘mine,’ there is no solution. ‘We’ and ‘ours’ is the solution,” he said.
Bhagwat’s remarks come during his ongoing overseas outreach as the RSS marks its centenary year. He arrived in the US earlier this week and is scheduled to travel to Canada and the UK as part of the programme.
Several others also condemned Bhagwat’s speech over what they described as a contradiction between his overseas messaging on religious harmony and the RSS’s positions and rhetoric in India.
Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose accused Bhagwat of “hypocrisy” and “double speak”.
“The sheer hypocrisy & duplicitousness of it all. Shri Mohan Bhagwat travels to New York—in a liberal democracy that protects individual freedom, sustains a free economy and embraces pluralism—to declaim on Hindu-Muslim harmony. Back home in India, the RSS-BJP is busy dismantling liberal democracy, crushing individual freedoms, undermining the open economy and daily waging Hindu-Muslim conflict to gain power. Has Shri Bhagwat ever looked in the mirror?” Sagarika said in a post on X.
Lawyer Dushyant Arora also accused Bhagwat of double speak, referring to a speech the RSS chief delivered in Mumbai earlier this year. Dushyant said Bhagwat had spoken about identifying alleged infiltrators through their language while also saying employment should be provided “even to Muslims”.
Calling it “a masterclass in the RSS’ age old double speak”, Dushyant argued that such statements could be interpreted differently by the organisation’s cadre even as Bhagwat publicly speaks about religious harmony.
Zohran Mamdani, New York’s Indian-American and Muslim mayor, has previously described the RSS as a communal organisation and had said he does not support the Saturday event.
Earlier too, Bhagwat has made similar assertions about the place of Muslims in his conception of a Hindu Rashtra. In a 2018 address in New Delhi, he had said that a Hindu Rashtra could not exist without Muslims and that an ideology seeking to exclude Muslims or Christians could not represent Hindutva.
