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“We were neither invited nor informed about any of these Dharam Sansads,” VHP working president Alok Kumar told ET. He said there was no doubt Gandhi was one of the greatest saints of India and the Sangh Parivar had nothing but respect for him.
During a recent Dharam Sansad, held in Haridwar, several religious leaders affiliated with far-right Hindutva organisations asked Hindus to take up arms and drive Muslims out of the country. Following this, a Dharam Sansad was held in Chhattisgarh's Raipur where a seer Kalicharan had reportedly hailed Gandhi’s killer Nathuram Godse.
A senior RSS functionary on the condition of anonymity said the growing number of Hindu vigilante and militant Hindutva groups is also a challenge for the Sangh Parivar that does not want to create any law and order situation in society. “There is a way issues dear to Hindus are being dealt with by the government and we don’t want anything disrupting it. Our Sarsanghchalak has been saying our DNA is the same so that there is no animosity between communities. But there are internal fault lines with other Hindutva groups who want to be brazen. We are clear we don’t wish to condemn openly. Many people feel talking about Hindutva issues makes them popular. Many of these people are extremely critical of us and have been associated with other parties but see an opportunity in showcasing the Bhagwa (saffron).”
Convenor of the Haridwar Sansad, Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, has often hit out at the BJP and RSS for being “cowardly” on Hindu-Muslim issues and is presently on a mission to garner support to make Hindus “physically and mentally stronger”. The Meerut-born priest, who has been at the Dasna temple in Ghaziabad since 2007, has also differed openly with statements made by RSS leaders, including Mohan Bhagwat, condemning his recent statement that all Indians share a common DNA. Hindu religious leader Mahant Ram Sundar Das, who walked out of the Chhattisgarh Dharam Sansad, is a Congress MLA and chairman of Chhattisgarh Gau Seva Aayog.
VHP spokesperson Vinod Bansal said when the Raipur event was organised by Congress members as the state is ruled by the party. “There was a Congress mayor and an MLA…The CM was also invited. The ideology and people were all theirs, so were the ones who provoked… Why are Hindu saints being pulled into this?”
Senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar, who mentors the RSS Muslim outreach programme, claimed Congress had specifically kicked up the Dharam Sansad debate because it wanted to malign the Hindu society. "They want to tell people Hindus are divisive and violent. This is only to politically poison the atmosphere and insult the Hindu society. We respect Gandhi and all the leaders who have contributed to the country but is the Congress ready to think about Savarkar with an open mind,” he said.
Arun Anand, who has closely studied the RSS and has authored the book ‘Know About RSS’, said the organisation has been trying to “go beyond even tolerance, for it knows its responsibility of keeping the society together”.
The events have also brought the focus back on the working of Akharas, many of whose members were present in both the events. More dharam sansads have been planned in five States in the next three weeks, ET has learnt.
Dharam Sansads were started by VHP in the 1980s to mobilise saints to raise matters of religion. These events have often passed resolutions against cow slaughter. The most notable Dharam Sansad was in 1985 in Udupi when 34 saints came together to kick-start the Shriram Janmabhoomi Mukti Andolan. In the VHP Dharam Sansad held in Delhi on October 30, 1992, it was decided to begin the continuous ‘kar sewa’ for the construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya from December 6, 1992, which finally led to the demolition of Babri Masjid. VHP Dharam Sansads were also held in 2017 and 2019. These events saw the participation of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and pushed for speedier Ram temple verdict.
RSS leaders such as Indresh Kumar have warned against Dharam Sansads convened by other groups. They termed the ones hosted by Sangh Parivar “original”.
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