Bhagwat trying to liberalise RSS, told us Hindu Rashtra not possible sans Muslims: Ex-CEC Quraishi

Former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi on Friday said that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat appeared to be “trying to liberalise the organisation” and had told him once that a “Hindu Rashtra” could not be imagined without Muslims, while assuring him that there was no question of changing the Constitution.

Recalling his first meeting with Bhagwat in 2022, Quraishi said he had no regrets over the interaction and, in fact, went on to meet the RSS chief three more times because “what he told us was very significant”.

Speaking during the launch of his new book, India and I: A Hundred Memories, Not a Memoir, Quraishi said he and his four to five Muslim friends had sought the meeting with Bhagwat at a time when incidents of lynching were at their peak.

“We were deeply disturbed. We decided to meet the RSS chief because we believed the source of this communalism was the RSS. We emailed him seeking an appointment whenever he was in Delhi, and he immediately replied saying he would be in Delhi in about 15 days,” he said.

According to Quraishi, the delegation met Bhagwat for about an hour, during which the RSS chief “listened patiently” to their concerns before sharing his views.

Quraishi said Bhagwat told them: “It is being said that we are going to become a Hindu Rashtra, but we have been, are, and will remain a Hindu Rashtra.”

He added that when they asked him whether it meant the Constitution would be changed, Bhagwat replied, ‘Not at all. We won’t change the Constitution’.

The former bureaucrat said he then asked Bhagwat what the status of Muslims would be in such a Hindu Rashtra. “He replied, ‘We cannot imagine a Hindu Rashtra without Muslims,’” Quraishi said.

Reflecting on the meetings, the former CEC said, “These are the kinds of statements he has been making. We have come to the conclusion that among all of them, he is perhaps the most liberal, or he is trying to liberalise the organisation.”

Quraishi also claimed that Bhagwat told the delegation he faced criticism from within the Sangh Parivar for engaging with Muslim groups. “He told us that whenever I meet you people, members of my own organisation abuse me. He even showed us those reactions. It was similar to the criticism we ourselves received for meeting Bhagwat,” Quraishi said.

He further claimed that Bhagwat had remarked that organisations such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal had become increasingly independent. “He [Bhagwat] told us that these offshoots have become too big for their boots. They have become bigger than us and don’t even listen to us now,” Quraishi claimed.