RSS is recognised as body of individuals, Bhagwat tells critics

In a veiled remark against the Congress leaders criticising RSS for operating without registration, the Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday said his organisation is recognised as a body of individuals.

''RSS was established in 1925, so do you expect us to have registered with the British government?'' Bhagwat asked while replying to a question during an in-house question and answer session organised by the RSS.

He added that after the independence, Government of India did not make registration compulsory.

''We are categorised as body of individuals, and we are a recognised organisation,'' Bhagwat explained.

According to him, IT department and courts have termed RSS as a body of individuals and the organisation was exempted from income tax.

''We were banned thrice. So government has recognised us. If we were not there, whom did they ban,'' the RSS chief asked.

Bhagwat added there are many things, which are not registered. ''Even Hindu Dharma is not registered,'' he remarked.

On the issue of RSS respecting only the saffron flags and not recognising the Indian tri-colour, Bhagwat said while saffron is treated as a Guru in RSS it has high respect for the Indian tri-colour.

''We always respect, offer tribute and protect our tricolour,'' the RSS chief said.

Bhagwat's remarks came as Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge recently said RSS should be banned.

His son and Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge demanded ban on RSS activities in government institutions and public places. He even questioned the registration number of RSS and their source of funding.

Bhagwat clarified that RSS does not support any political party.

''We do not participate in vote politics, current politics, election politics, etc. Sangh's work is uniting the society and politics, by nature, is divisive, so we keep out of politics,'' he stated.

The RSS chief said the organisation supports policies.

''We support policies. We will exert our force to support the right policy, not an individual, not a party, but policy,'' he explained.

Citing example of movement to build Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, Bhagwat said the Sangh volunteers supported it, the organisation stood by its construction.

''So BJP was there (to support it). If Congress or any other party had supported we would have supported them as well,'' he explained.

''We don't have special affinity towards one party. There is no Sangh party. No party is ours and all parties are ours because they are Bharatiya parties,'' he stated.

Bhagwat said RSS wants to organise entire society without keeping anybody out and believes in '''Sabka saath, sabka vikas' without giving a slogan''.

On India's relationship with Pakistan he said Sangh always wants peace with Pakistan.

''It is Pakistan which doesn't want peace with us, and as long as Pakistan gets some satisfaction of causing harm to Bharat, it will keep on doing it.

So way to peace with Pakistan is that we don't breach from our side the peace. But if Pakistan wants to breach that peace, it will never be successful,'' he asserted.

Reminding Pakistan of the consequences it had faced in 1971 war, which led to the formation of Bangladesh, Bhagwat said, if the neighbouring country do not mend its ways Pakistan will learn a lesson one day. ''It is better to cooperate than to fight. I don't think they understand any other language. So we have to speak the language they understand.'' ''We have to give befitting answer and defeat them, always, each time, causing them some loss that they will repent forever,'' he added.

On casteism in the society, he said there is no casteism but caste confusion.

''There is no system, but there is caste confusion for concessions and for elections. So there is no need to do any effort to eradicate caste. There is need to do effort to forget caste. And that is very easy. We individually can forget caste,'' he noted.

On 'Love Jihad ' the RSS chief asked people not to give too much thought on what others do. Rather, they should think what they should do.

He asked people to inculcate 'Hindu Samskara' at home to deal with it.