Kashmiri Pandits to return home soon, will not be uprooted again: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat

Ravi S Singh

Advertisement

New Delhi, April 3

In an emphatic assurance of security and hope to displaced Kashmiri Pandits, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday said they will not be uprooted again when they return home, which, he underlined, will happen “soon”.

Giving a thumbs up to “The Kashmir Files”, Bhagwat said it has brought to the fore the sufferings and forced migration of the Pandits from Kashmir in 1990s.

The movie depicts an unfortunate and shocking reality of the drastic tragedy of Kashmiri Pandits, which moved all of us.

Bhagwat’s affirmative and congratulatory note of the contents of the movie comes as a major endorsement in the context of Opposition parties at the Centre and Jammu and Kashmir-centric parties terming them as biased and imaginary.

Addressing Kashmiri Hindu community through video-conference on the occasion of Navreh festival, Bhagwat said: “We left (Kashmir) because of extremism but this time when we return back, we’ll go back as Hindus and ‘Bharat Bhakts’.”

The event was organised by the Sanjeevani Sharda Kendra.

He contextualised their permanent and fulfilling return with their earlier forced migration due to the same extremism.

“We’ll live in a way that nobody will dare to displace us,” Bhagwat said.

He said he has been hearing that the return of the Pandits back home next year.

In this context he counselled them to be patient, and display “sankalp” (resolve) and courage.

He underlined that Kashmiri Pandits have been bearing the brunt of getting displaced from their home in our own country for the last three to four decades.

“Earlier, I said that the issue of Kashmiri Pandits will be solved through public awareness and removal of obstacles such as Article 370. After 2011, in these 11 years, due to our collective efforts, there’s no Article 370.”