The Opposition on Thursday described Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat’s appeal for social harmony and the primacy of regional languages as an exercise in hypocrisy, accusing the RSS-BJP of “blatant racial and linguistic discrimination” on the ground.
“Who should be the first to heed his words?” RJD parliamentarian Manoj Jha said, referring to Bhagwat’s plea to people on Wednesday evening to rise above the divisions of language, caste, religion and wealth, and treat all Indian languages as national languages.
Opposition members sought to remind Bhagwat of the allegedly racist lynching of Tripura youth Anjel Chakma in BJP-ruled Uttarakhand — on which he had been silent — and the insertion of Hindi words into the titles of pieces of national legislation.
As for all Indian tongues being national languages, Delhi police recently referred to Bengali as “the Bangladeshi language” amid allegations of Bengali-speaking migrants being lynched by mobs and tortured by police in BJP-ruled states.
Serial attacks on Kashmiri shawl sellers in parts of the country have drawn protests from senior politicians such as Farooq Abdullah.
Bhagwat’s remarks came in Sonapairi village in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, at one of the many “Hindu conventions” being held across the country to mark the Sangh’s centenary.
“Remove divisions; treat everyone as your own. The Sangh considers all Hindus as one, but the world sees divisions in terms of caste, language and religion,” he said.
“You should have friends across all such divisions the world sees. People should not be judged by language, caste or wealth. All Indians are our own.” Bhagwat said that such an approach was necessary for “social harmony”.
“At least, inside our homes, we should speak in our mother tongue. If you live in another state or region, you should learn the language of that state or region because all languages are India’s national languages. They all have equal importance,” Bhagwat said.
Jha, the RJD lawmaker, said: “After such an extensive statement, who should be the first to heed his words? Whose ideology does he represent, and which political party draws inspiration from him? It is the BJP, isn’t it?”
He referred to Chakma’s killing, which has again highlighted how people from the country’s northeast are often racially profiled in other parts of the country as “Chinese” or the derogatory “Chinky” because of their features, humiliated and attacked.
“Even now, in their own state of Uttarakhand, a child from Tripura has been murdered,” Jha said. “I have not heard a single statement from him (Bhagwat) on this. At a time when blatant linguistic and racial discrimination is being witnessed and poison is being sown, he has remained completely silent.”
Congress leader Rashid Alvi accused Bhagwat of doublespeak on the subject of language, arguing that such remarks would make little difference on the ground.
“Mohan Bhagwat and Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi are both trying to cultivate (sic) their images. They are not concerned about whether what they say actually translates into action,” Alvi told reporters. “If Bhagwat truly believes that all languages are India’s national languages, why doesn’t he ask the BJP to stop the forcible imposition of Hindi on southern India?”
During the winter session of Parliament, the Opposition had protested against the use of Hindi words in the English titles of key pieces of legislations, including the VB-G RAM G Bill (now Act), which has now replaced the UPA-era Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.