Bhagwat’s message, loud and clear

Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat’s appeal to religious zealots to desist from uncovering temples beneath mosques and promote harmony should be taken as a clarion call to all and sundry forces out to rake up contentious issues to use as a pedestal for their leadership. Mr. Bhagwat was delivering a lecture on Thursday at Pune on ‘India: The Vishwaguru’. Significantly, this is second time within two years that Mr. Bhagwat has urged people against digging up antiquities to discover evidences of fractious history.

On an earlier occasion, he had asked people to shun the tendency to look for a shivling under the cupola of every mosque. Citing the celebration of Christmas in Kolkata’s Ramakrishna Ashram, Mr. Bhagwat termed it as unique sign of India’s inclusivity and religious harmony. Describing the construction of Ram Mandir as an exceptional case, he appealed to countrymen against resorting to hatred, malice, enmity and the language of divisiveness. The salience of the call should not be missed as it comes from a body considered to be the progenitor of the current dispensation at the Centre and was the torch-bearer of the movement that led to construction of Ram Mandir at the site of the demolished Babri Masjid.

The call needs to be seen in the backdrop of the cacophony kicked up by an increasing number of claims made by several quarters and pleas admitted in courts for conducting investigative surveys to determine the origin of several mosques in Uttar Pradesh. One such controversial directive from a local court, in fact, led to mayhem in Sambhal town of Uttar Pradesh resulting in the death of four persons.

Mr. Bhagwat’s assertion would have carried added weight if he had urged compliance with the Places of Worship Act 1991 laying down maintenance of status quo in matters of places of worship as on August 15, 2024. Not a day too late, the latest call should be welcomed for its message that is loud and clear.