The Meghalaya Pradesh Trinamool Congress, East Khasi Hills district unit has criticised the “every citizen of this country is a Hindu” statement made by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat terming it “hyberbolic”.
TMC district coordinator, Dominic S Wankhar said the statement was made with an intention to infuse and indoctrinate society with a twisted agenda.
“We are against all sorts and all forms of polarization in the name of patriotism and nationalism,” he said.
“Mr. Bhagwat should have read the Preamble of the Indian Constitution which says as We the People of India and nowhere has it mentioned of imposing forcefully ones culture, language, customs under one doctrine and nowhere has the Constitution of India mentioned that every citizen is a Hindu,” Wankhar said.
Bhagwat was on a two-day visit to Shillong. The TMC said the statement was made by a personality who preaches peace on one hand but plays divisive policies on the other hand. “The people of Meghalaya are happy and satisfied with their own way of life and their own unique culture that have been handed down from ages, the RSS should take its agenda somewhere else, in fact people of the state should not be swayed by the RSS or any of its fringe elements who are just wolves in sheep’s clothing,” the party said.
Meanwhile, Thma U Rangli-Juki & KAM Meghalaya has also objected to the statement stating it is not only against the pluralist traditions of India with diverse faiths but also points to the “insidious” attempts by the Hindutva eco system to violently turn India into a Hindu Rashtra.
In Meghalaya indigenous tribals have never been part of the Hindu caste and religious order, TUR & KAM said, adding, “We shall always defend the Secular character of the Indian Republic where freedom of religion, faith and culture is celebrated and defended.”
