Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Tuesday said that efforts to “dismantle” India won't succeed. He said it is erroneous to think that circumstances will change with a change of regime: “This has never happened before and will not happen again".
Amid ongoing protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar alleged SIR irregularities, he also said that agitation does not bring about a change and solutions to problems come from within society.
“India is their main target because India is progressing. These evil forces know that they cannot disrupt India the way it has moved ahead with decisive policies in the last few decades… they are trying dismantling India and the Sangh,” he said at the Vijayadashami Utsav in Nagpur.
Bhagwat also cautioned that when protests are political or instigated it serves to create tensions, anarchy and disrupted public order.
‘Storm coming from the West’
The RSS chief said that Indians need to be cautious that there are forces that want the country derailed from its path of becoming developed. “It is evident… there are many powers in the world that want India to lose,” he said.
“There is a storm coming in from the West which hates culture, systems and the security… It wants to destroy…” he added. He also cited examples of countries like France, Nepal and Bangladesh to back his argument of foreign interference that tried to push regime change as a means of finding solutions.
He said there is a section of people in India who seem to reflect what these forces want. “There are some people who are of their opinion in India as well…who have low intelligence and thirst for power,” he said.
Urging society to be on guard, he said people should ensure solution to problems come from within and not through protests.
Row over ‘regime change’ remark
Mohan Bhagwat's remarks came days after senior Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan said that protests in Delhi against alleged irregularities in the SIR of electoral rolls had become “really a fight for regime change”, sparking a political controversy.
“The government alleges the opposition wants a regime change... We are currently fighting to ensure that elections are conducted properly. But if this kind of brutality continues, there will certainly be regime change," Bhushan said last week.
The BJP hit back, with defence minister Rajnath Singh accusing unnamed groups of trying to use young people to foment political unrest in the country. BJP national spokesperson CR Kesavan also criticised the call for regime change, saying Bhushan's remarks proved that the anti-CEC protests were a “smokescreen” for the opposition’s alleged agenda to bring down the government.
Balance between ecology and ethics
During his remarks in Nagpur, the Sangh chief also said India needs to show the way and set a new metric for development that does not pose adverse consequences for humanity.
He said while science and technology will progress, there is a need to ensure ecology and ethics are not overlooked. He also stressed on the need to protect and respect the diversity of India, pointing out that there are diversities in religion, language, food choices.
Bhagwat cited the recent floods in Nepal as an example of mismatch between development and maintaining the ecology.
“What happened in Kolkata (stampede deaths) is because of our own fault… but what happened in Nepal was a natural disaster…” he said. He cautioned the entire Himalayan area, which includes India, Nepal and China and said development is creating problems in the area.
“A lot of human loss has happened. We have to balance between development and ensuring that the price of development does not mean people dying,” he said.