Rashtriya Swayamksevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday, April 26, remarked that it is ‘not right’ to fault and ‘keep distance’ from an entire community because of the actions of some ‘out of fear and anger’. He was referring to the Tablighi Jamaat incident at Nizamuddin in Delhi, after which muslims were hated for spreading COVID-19.

Bhagwat said that we must help the needy with a feeling of ‘brotherhood’ during these tough times irrespective of ‘provocative acts’ of some people who have misbehaved with government officials.

‘There will always be some people like that. Some may have acted out of fear of being quarantined, some may have acted out of anger thinking the (lockdown) rules were meant to target them. But to apply this to an entire community and keep a distance from it is not right. You must help all with goodwill because all 130 crore people are your own,’ he said.

‘Those who resort to provocative acts generate anger and this anger generates irrational reactions. We should not hold their acts against the entire community. There are people waiting to divide the country. While we must be aware of such people, we must not hold anger or enmity against all,’ Bhagwat said, adding that ‘leaders should convey the right message to communities’.

Bhagwat claimed that the clear message of the pandemic is the adoption of swadeshi and environment-friendly traditional wisdom, and called for re-calibrating developmental priorities and policies.

Speaking about the lynching of sadhus in Maharashtra’s Palghar, Bhagwat said, ‘Let’s keep the war of words aside. Is it good to take the law into our hands? What should the police do? Fear and anger are not expected but are natural. But we have to work constructively and with the courage to take the nation forward.’

Further, calling for the resumption of activities like education, industries and markets with the required precautions, he said, ‘We have to maintain the discipline of social distancing and observe all precautions prescribed for containment of the disease.’

‘We have to think about the working class. Jobs must remain. We will have to function with limited resources. Self-reliance is the message (of the pandemic). We will have to re-construct sciences and technologies as per the needs of the times (yuganukul). We will have to take that path of development which matches the traditional,’ he said.

‘We must buy things produced in the country. We shouldn’t remain dependent on foreign countries,’ Bhagwat said, calling for adopting ‘swadeshi with quality’.

Talking about the drop in air and water pollution levels during the lockdown, he said, ‘Some activities have come to a standstill. We must check if we can make do without them. We will have to try and lead a life based on environment-friendly activities.’

Also Read: India’s War Against COVID-19 Is People Driven: PM Modi