Bharat got ‘true independence’ on Ram temple consecration day: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat claimed that India achieved its ‘true independence’ on Ram Mandir’s construction day in Ayodhya. According to him, the date of Ram temple consecration should be celebrated as “Pratishtha Dwadashi”.

“After India got political independence from the British on August 15, 1947, a written Constitution was made according to the path shown by that specific vision, which comes out of the ‘self’ of the country, but the document was not run according to the spirit of the vision at that time,” Mohan Bhagwat said on Monday.

The RSS chief said the date should be celebrated as “Pratishtha Dwadashi” as the true independence of Bharat, which had faced “parachakra” (enemy attack) for several centuries, was established on this day.

Mohan Bhagwat was speaking after presenting the ‘National Devi Ahilya Award’ to Champat Rai, general secretary of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, in Indore.

According to the Hindu calendar, the consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya took place on Dwadashi of ‘Shukla Paksha’ of the Paush month last year. The date in the Gregorian calendar was January 22, 2024. This year, the Paush Shukla Paksha Dwadashi fell on January 11.

Bhagwat asserted that the Ram temple movement was not started to oppose anyone.

“This movement was started to awaken the ‘self’ (swa) of Bharat so that the country could stand on its own feet and show the path to the world, the RSS chief said.

Bhagwat said the invaders destroyed temples of the country so that the “self” of India also perishes.

According to him, the Ram Mandir movement lasted so long because some forces did not want a temple to be built at the birthplace of Lord Ram.

Mohan Bhagwat mentions meeting Pranab Mukherjee

Mohan Bhagwat mentioned a meeting with former President Pranab Mukherjee at a time when the issue of ‘Ghar Wapsi’ (return of converted people to their original religion) figured in Parliament.

“During this meeting, Mukherjee told me that the Constitution of India is the most secular Constitution in the world and in such a situation what right does the world have to teach us secularism,” Bhagwat said.

He added that Mukherjee also credited the 5,000 years of Indian tradition for teaching secularism.

According to Bhagwat, the 5,000-year-old Indian tradition that Mukherjee referred to during his meeting with him started with Lord Ram, Krishna and Shiva.

He said during the Ram Mandir movement in the 1980s, some people used to ask him the “standard question” — as to “why is the issue of the temple being raised leaving aside the concern for the livelihood of the people?

“I used to ask those people that despite talking about socialism after independence in 1947, giving slogans of ‘Garibi Hatao’ (eradicate poverty) and worrying about people’s livelihood all the time, where did India stand in the 1980s and where have countries like Israel and Japan reached?” he said to the gathering.

The RSS chief said he used to tell these people that “India’s livelihood path goes through the entrance of Ram temple, and they should keep this in mind.”