NEW DELHI: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday ruled out the organisation’s support for campaigns to reclaim temples in Kashi (Varanasi) and Mathura, saying the Ram temple movement was the only one backed by the Sangh.“Ram temple is the only movement that the RSS supported, it will not join any other, but our volunteers can. The Kashi-Mathura reclamation movements will not be supported by the Sangh, but Swayamsevaks may take part,” Bhagwat said on the final day of his three-day lecture series at Vigyan Bhawan, marking the RSS centenary.Amid calls for Ayodhya-like movements, he added, “Besides these three, I have said there is no need to search for a temple or Shivling everywhere. At the same time, why can’t it happen? It is a matter of only three, you (Hindus) can take it. This will be a big step towards harmony.”The RSS chief also projected a conciliatory image, asserting that Islam would always have a place in India and describing Akhand Bharat as an immutable reality.Meanwhile, on speculation about retirement at 75, Bhagwat clarified, “I never said that I or someone else should retire at 75,” dismissing suggestions it was a veiled reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He underlined that the RSS and BJP work independently. “The RSS knows how to run shakhas and BJP knows how to run the government and they only give suggestions to each other,” he said. “It’s completely wrong” to say the Sangh decides everything for the BJP, including selection of its president, he added.Addressing wider issues, Bhagwat said the RSS fully supports constitutionally mandated reservations “till the time it is required,” while describing caste as an “outdated system” that “has to go.”On demographic changes, he flagged conversion and illegal immigration as concerns. “Religion is an individual’s own choice. No one should be forcefully converted. We have to stop it. The second issue is infiltration… It is important to give employment to the citizens of our country,” he said, adding jobs should also go to “our own people including Muslims.”Bhagwat said the RSS is studying the implications of artificial intelligence, remarking, “It can learn languages, but can it understand emotions?”On India’s trade tensions with the US, he noted, “International trade is essential, but there can be no friendship under pressure. We don’t tell the government how to deal with Trump; they know what to do and we will support it.”The RSS chief also sought to set the record straight on history, asserting the Sangh had opposed Partition despite its limited influence at the time, and reiterated that swayamsevaks participated in the freedom struggle.
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