Mumbai (The Hindu): Calls for religious equality at largest RSS gatheringin a decade.A society that thrives on discrimination cannot survive, said Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday at the decade’s biggest RSS gathering at Pimpri-Chinchwad in Pune. He called for a discrimination-free society predicated on truth, justice and equality.

Mr Bhagwat evoked Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of Hind Swaraj in the same breath in which he said that the Sangh stood for equality.

More than one-and-a-half lakh Sangh activists from across 5,000 villages in Pune, Nashik, Ahmednagar, Satara, Sangli, Solapur and Kolhapur districts in Western Maharashtra began congregating in serpentine queues late Sunday afternoon at Marunji village, close to Hinjewadi IT park.

Standing in disciplined columns in a 450-acre area, RSS activists unleashed a display of dynamic force in the event titled Shiv Shakti Sangam , which evoked Chhatrapati Shivaji’s unifying capabilities against invaders.

The tone and tenor of the RSS chief’s address particularly emphasised religious unity and extolled an egalitarian Indian society.

“The bad deeds committed by strong nations are often overlooked, while the good deeds by weaker nations are often not accorded any value. A nation’s prestige increases only by its strength. This is the way of the world. But that strength must be tempered by justice,” said the RSS chief, from a massive set resembling Shivaji’s Raigad Fort.

Eco-friendly theme

The set was built by noted art director Nitin Desai. An eco-friendly theme was stressed throughout the conclave, which is the RSS’s biggest effort in recent times to reach out to all sections of civil society. In this vein, he remarked upon the diversity of India’s culture and its religions as its true bedrock and stated that “all religions in the country preached truth and non-violence”.

“Humility has been an essential and peculiarly Indian quality, which has made its national character so attractive. We have shown the world that to be fearless, one needs physical strength coupled with humility,” said Mr. Bhagwat, adding that invaders had been able to dominate India only owing to its internecine struggles.

Moral beacon

He said that India can act as a cultural and moral beacon to the world, the RSS chief said that “even if a society was materially impoverished, but disciplined and resolute, it could achieve the impossible.”

In this context, the RSS chief referenced the birth of Israel in 1948 following 2,000 years of continuous persecution endured by the Jewish people since they became a diaspora.

According to political observers, the real agenda behind the RSS’s gargantuan show of strength was a bid to break the stranglehold of the sugar barons of western Maharashtra and supplanting the influence held by the Congress and the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party over the region.

Also present on the occasion were Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Sarkaryawah Suresh Joshi.

Photo credit: The Hindu