Shouldn’t see oneself as deity: RSS chief

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 6

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s latest advice to the cadre to “never consider themselves as God” on Friday lent fresh ammunition to the opposition Congress, which said the Sangh supremo’s remarks were directed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Bhagwat, at an event of the Sangh in Pune, stressed the importance of silent striving and told RSS workers never to proclaim themselves as God. He said let people decide if someone excelling in his work was God-like. “No one should believe he has become a deity,” Bhagwat said.

He went on to add that true wisdom “begets humility and not otherwise”. “When someone calls me God-like or a deity, I pause to think because I know who I am. If someone says something like this to us, we should listen to him but not let these praises get to our head,” the RSS chief said.

Bhagwat said to stay humble, one needed to work hard. He said the deeper one’s thoughts were, the higher was the level of his work.

“People will decide whether we will become God-like. Some people think they should shine bright like lightning rather than burn slowly like embers. They forget that once lightning strikes, it leaves in its wake a darker sky than before. So workers should strive like a humble diya rather than strike like lightning. One should dazzle only when necessary. At other times, one should work silently,” said Bhagwat.

The Congress latched on to his remarks with AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh saying that since the declaration of the 2024 Lok Sabha election results on June 4, the relations between PM Modi and the RSS had nosedived.

“These relations continue to be in turbulence. At an event in Pune, the RSS chief rebuked the PM for his claim to non-biological origins, saying whether we will become God or not, people will decide and we should not proclaim that we have become God,” Jairam said.

Importantly, Bhagwat had repeatedly admonished the political class, including its own protege BJP, to stay humble and shun arrogance. RSS and BJP top functionaries recently met in Kerala’s Palakkad to thrash out differences and find a way forward.

The Sangh has described differences with the BJP as a family matter, which will be resolved.