Mohan Bhagwat’s Frank Talk

EDITORIAL

Long years ago in 1991, the then Prime Minister, Chandra Shekhar, was asked at a press conference in New Delhi if he sensed the danger of a Hindu Rashtra in pluralist and secular democratic India. Chandra Shekhar brushed aside the threat with characteristic flourish, saying that if the regular assemblage of sadhus and sants at kumbh melas did not turn India into a Hindu Rashtra, such a prospect was remote in the near future. Even if the then PM’s assurance in this regard left the listeners with a sense of relief at that time, the latest developments since 2014 have brought to the fore that specific danger with a force as never before. The utterances of both PM Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah have only heightened that danger. Additionally, the insecurity among Muslims has increased in large measure.

It is in this context that the widely publicised speech of RSS sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat at a lecture series of the organisation in New Delhi on September 18 provided a refreshing change from the stereotypical ultra-Hindu outbursts of the key figures of the Hindutva brigade that have