RSS will disown volunteer if found guilty of lynching: Bhagwat

New Delhi: Claiming that the RSS was against all forms of violence, Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat at a meeting on Tuesday said the organisation would “disown any Swayamsewak found guilty of such an act”. The RSS chief claimed that the volunteers of the party work to stop incidents like lynching. News18 quoted him as saying: “We condemn all forms of violence. Swayamsewaks work to stop such incidents. If a Swayamsevak (volunteer) is found guilty, we will disown him and law should take its own course.”

Bhagwat told this in a specific comment on incidents of lynching while interacting with 80 journalists representing 50 organisations from over 30 countries. During the interaction that lasted over two and a half hours, RSS chief covered topics ranging from the recent abrogation of the special status of J&K to homosexuality and caste-based reservations.

RSS second in command Suresh (Bhaiyyaji) Joshi, joint general secretaries Manmohan Vaidya, Krishan Gopal, northern region incharge Bajran Lal Gupt and its Delhi unit head Kulbhushan Ahuja were also present on the occasion.

The Hindu with reference to an official statement put out by the RSS, reported that the interaction was part of the continuous process where the ‘Sarsanghchalak’ [chief] engages in constructive dialogue with people from different walks of society.

During the interactive session Mr. Bhagwat told that the abrogation of J&K’s special status would help “integrate” the people with the rest of India. He also allayed the fears about loss of land and jobs.

Supporting the proposed Citizenship Amendment Bill, Bhagwat claimed that Hindus had no place of succour other than India. It must be noted that the Bill in question proposes to grant citizenship to those people hailing from the Hindu, Sikh, Jain and Parsi religions who were fleeing persecution from India’s neighbouring countries.

Mr. Bhagwat advised the journalists not to judge the RSS on the basis of propaganda and asked them to believe in what they see.