Brimming with positivity

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mr Mohan Bhagwat’s call on Thursday to maintain good relations with neighbouring countries should be seen as positive signals for the central dispensation to initiate efforts to restore normalcy in ties with neighbours.

Although representative of missions of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Turkiye were not invited to the conclave to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Sangh’s founding, the address leaves no one in doubt that Mr. Bhagwat was not excluding these nations as he pointed out that difference of faith or geography should not come in the way of carrying out the responsibility under ‘Dharma’ which stands for living with dignity, and balance and shunning extremism.

Mr Bhagwat backed his call for inclusivity on the basis of mountains, forests and rivers that sustain the people of the subcontinent that was once ‘Bharat’ adding that drawing lines of partition do not make much of a difference in matters of inherited values.

It is quite obvious that he was hinting at Pakistan and Bangladesh in his advice as the two nations had split away from what was once British India following the lines drawn by Gen. Radcliffe in 1947 in pursuit of the Muslim League and its mercurial leader Mohammed Ali Jinnah’s totally irrational demand for a Muslim homeland.

It is not certain if words from Mr. Bhagwat constitute or carry any hint for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to initiate steps to restore dialogue with Islamabad which were disrupted in the wake of killing of 26 tourists at a Pahalgam resort by terrorists on April 22 and Operation Sindoor subsequently launched by India.

As for Bangladesh, the ties merely carry an element of cussedness following granting of asylum to former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who had to flee following a popular uprising across the country. While it will take some time to see as to how the Modi government reacts to Mr. Bhagwat’s hint, there is no gainsaying the fact that it drips with positivity and deserves attention.