Mohan Bhagwat remark on Hindu Muslim Unity: Who said what

New Delhi, July 05: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's comments that the DNA of all Indians is the same and those asking Muslims to leave the country cannot call themselves Hindus drew reactions on Monday from opposition and some community leaders who said actions on the ground should match words.

Addressing an event, organised by the minority wing of RSS on Sunday, Bhagwat said the DNA of all Indians is the same, irrespective of religion, and urged Muslims not to get "trapped in the cycle of fear" about Islam being in danger in India. Those asking Muslims to leave the country cannot call themselves Hindus and those indulging in lynching people in the name of cows must know that they are against Hindutva, the RSS chief added.

Digvijaya Singh

Reacting to Bhagwat''s remarks, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said if he is true to his words, he must give directions that all those BJP leaders who have "harassed" innocent Muslims be removed from their posts.

Digvijaya Singh said, "Mohan Bhagwat ji, will you pass on these views to your disciples, preachers, Vishwa Hindu Parishad/Bajrang Dal workers also? Will you pass on these teachings to Modi-Shah ji and BJP chief minister also?"

"Mohan Bhagwat ji, if you make it obligatory for your disciples to follow this thought, I will become your admirer," the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister said.

Alleging that the RSS had instilled "hatred" between Hindus and Muslims, Singh said it was now not easy to remove the "seeds of hatred" that have been sown against Muslims from "Saraswati Shishu Mandir to the intellectual training provided by the Sangh.

Asaduddin Owaisi

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi alleged that cowardice, violence and murder "are an integral part of Godse''s Hindutva thinking" and the lynching of Muslims is also the result of that.

Strongly reacting to Bhagwat''s remarks on lynchings, Owaisi said those criminals who carried out lynchings may not know the difference between a cow and a buffalo but the names of Junaid, Akhlaq, Pehlu, Rakbar, Alimuddin were enough for them to kill.Â

"This hatred is the product of Hindutva and these criminals have the patronage of a government backing Hindutva", the president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) alleged.

Owaisi referred to a number of violent attacks on Muslims allegedly by cow vigilantes over the past few years.

"Alimuddin''s killers are garlanded at the hands of a Union Minister... the tricolor is laid over the body of Akhlaq''s killer... a mahapanchayat is convened in support of the killers of Asif…," he claimed.

Mayawati

On the RSS chief''s DNA remark, BSP supremo Mayawati said there is a difference between what the Sangh Parivar, the BJP and the government say and their actions.

She also said the RSS chief''s statement was like "Muh mein Ram, bagal mein chhuri", a Hindi expression that roughly translates to someone who is two-faced.

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi

However, Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi hailed RSS chief''s remarks, saying the RSS ideology has always been full of harmony, brotherhood and nationalism, and it was the propaganda by "Bharat bashing brigade" that had painted a negative picture of the Sangh.

Emphasing that in the past too, those in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), through their service to the people, did a lot of work for the unity of the society, Naqvi said but the ''gumrahi (misleading) gang'', not only in India but in the world, always conspired to break the brotherhood and social fabric by creating hullabaloo about the Sangh.