Instead of calling mob-lynching a crime, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat calls it an attempt to ‘defame’ Hindus

Instead of reprimanding and criticising those encouraging mob lynching, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat chose to make it about defaming Indian culture. Refusing to acknowledge that several of these anti-social elements were part of the Sangh Parivar, Bhagwat said that some anti-social elements were trying to spread hatred through mob lynching. And he asked the members of Sangh Parivar to “be cautious”.

“There is a deep conspiracy of defaming Hindu religion and culture in the name of mob violence in the country nowadays,” added Bhagwat, while inaugurating the Akhil Bharatiya Samajik Sadhbhav Samiti (All India Social Harmony Committee) at Vrindavan.

Attempting to divert the issue, Bhagwat said, “In some sections of the society, religious conversions are being done according to a plan. In some places, hatred is being spread in the name of mob lynching and in other cases, in the name of the cow.”

Bhagwat asked his audience to only ‘try to end the discrimination between castes and sections in the society” and didn’t ask them to do it compulsorily. “To protect the Hindu religion, people of different castes and sects worship together and try to end the discrimination between castes and sections in the society. When this happens, maybe problems will be solved at a social level,” highlighted Bhagwat.

Bhagwat’s reaction comes after 49 celebrities from different backgrounds penned an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling for an end to mob lynching and demanded exemplary action against the perpetrators. They had pointed out that 254 religious identity-based hate crimes were reported between January 1, 2009, and October 29, 2018, regretting that not much has been done to tackle the issue.

In this meeting, there were several attendees from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Jammu Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Tripura and Meghalaya and they reported on the developments in their states.

Earlier this year, Bhagwat had said that the powers that try to be a hurdle in the development of country should be suppressed.