The head of the RSS, Mohan Bhagwat, claimed on Monday that the political parties lacked decorum in the just finished Lok Sabha elections. Speaking at an RSS function in Nagpur, Maharashtra, he emphasised that a true sevak—one who serves the people—never displays conceit and consistently upholds decorum in public life.
“A true sevak maintains decorum while working… The one who maintains decorum does his work, but remains unattached. There is no arrogance that I did this. Only such a person has the right to be called a sevak,” the news agency quoted him as saying.
In his speech, Mohan Bhagwat also referenced Manipur, which has seen unrest, stating that the state has been yearning for calm for more than a year.
“Manipur has been looking for peace for a year now. It should be discussed on priority. The state had been peaceful for the past 10 years. It felt like the old ‘gun culture’ had come to a demise. It is still burning in the fire of the sudden tension that rose there or that was made to rise there. Who will pay attention to that? It is the duty to prioritise it and take note of it,” said the RSS chief, per news agency.
A day after Narendra Modi assumed office as India’s prime minister for the third time in a row, he made this statement.
There has been ethnic violence in Manipur between the Kuki and Meitei populations. According to Mohan Bhagwat, electoral politics is a contest rather than a war.
“Elections are an essential process of democracy, there are two parties in it, hence there is competition, if there is competition then there is a task of moving one forward and pushing others backwards. Don’t use it, why are people getting elected? They will go and sit in the Parliament and run the country, they will run it by building consensus, our tradition is to run by building consensus. The mind and psyche of each person are different, hence it is not possible to have similar opinions, but when people in the society decide to move together despite having different minds, then mutual consent is formed. There are two parties in Parliament so both sides are exposed, it is a bit difficult to reach a consensus among people who have come into competition, that is why we take the hope of a majority, there is competition, not mutual war,” Bhagwat added.
He rued that RSS was dragged into the elections.
“The way we started criticizing each other, and the way our actions in the campaign would increase discord in the society, divide two groups, and create mutual suspicion, was also not taken care of, and organizations like Sangh were also drawn into this, technology falsehoods were served with props, absolute lies; gentlemen do not use this science”, he added.
The head of the RSS emphasised how crucial it is to conduct yourself properly during the polls.
“There is decorum even in contesting elections, that decorum was not followed, because it is necessary to follow decorum because the challenges before our country have not ended”, he said.
Mohan Bhagwat praised the accomplishments of the Narendra Modi government in a number of areas. But he also noted that India is far from “free from challenges.”
The NDA gained 293 seats in the national elections, capping a noisy campaign by both parties. The INDIA group of the opposition secured 234 seats.
