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Truth, love, unity, harmony, peaceful coexistence… these are noble ideas, unquestionable and universally accepted. Even the evil can hide behind them. Lies and deceit, hatred and violence seek shelter in this nourishing, healing space to survive or seek legitimacy. Philosophers and poets, sages and reformers have given this wisdom to the world. Even conscientious politicians pursue the same path.

When Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat spoke about truth, love and unity during his interactions with the Indian diaspora in New York, the yearning for acceptability oozed from his words and language. The yearning to be seen as coming from the same land that produced Buddha and Gandhi, the land that sent Swami Vivekananda to Chicago with the message of peaceful coexistence over 130 years ago. The same land that produced Jawaharlal Nehru, a unique politician made of all the exalted values like knowledge, sacrifice, justice and compassion.

Bhagwat couldn’t muster the courage to break the continuity and tell the world he represents the new India. He couldn’t confess he is the flagbearer of an ideology that hailed Adolf Hilter’s racist pride; he couldn’t tell the audience that he comes from the ideological fraternity that killed Mahatma Gandhi; he couldn’t reveal his icon is V.D. Savarkar who believed Muslims can live in India only at the mercy of Hindus. He asserted that the RSS objective was to spread the message of universal oneness and Jagat Hitaye (Welfare of the world), without explaining why this organisation was producing millions of Hindu zealots who sustained divisive politics in India for 100 years.

Bhagwat said, evoking thunderous applause: “Unity in diversity, that’s India’s DNA.” What drowned these beautiful words was the roar of toxic rhetoric of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal workers and Sangh Parivar supporters who have been spewing poison on Muslims for decades.

Stressing the need for unity, Bhagwat said, “If you think the right way, you go nearer to God. Wrong thinking makes you a monster.” A monster? Images of relatives and friends, of fools and educated, of the poor and the rich, who demonise and defame Muslims day and night splashed all over the mind. They are diehard supporters........

© The Wire