Trolling is Like Hitting Below the Belt, RSS Doesn't Support It: Bhagwat

New Delhi: At a time when online trolling by the alleged supporters of the Sangh Parivar has been covered by global media, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat told a gathering of diplomats that his organisation doesn’t support any aggressive behaviour.

“Trolling amounts to hitting below the belt. We don’t support those who display such behaviour,” Bhagwat was quoted as saying by one of the organisers.

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh sarsanghchalak chaired the seventh Breakfast Briefing organized by India Foundation on Tuesday. A day after his birthday on September 11, he addressed a gathering on 52 diplomats on the Sangh and its ethos. He also took questions from the diplomats. Bhagwat sought to clarify that while Sangh and BJP are related, the two should not be used as synonyms.

According to a series of tweets put out by the verified Twitter handles of India Foundation directors and scholars, Bhagwat said, “Sangh doesn’t run BJP, and BJP doesn’t run Sangh.

As swayamsevaks, we consult and exchange notes but we are independent in functioning. Our volunteers are free to work in any field of life. Many parties have RSS volunteers. BJP has more. Our goal is to unite Indian society. BJP is an independent political party. Sangh and BJP sometimes have common national agendas, but that is natural, not engineered.”

Speaking on Hinduism, he said, “Hinduness is different from Hinduism. With times we change. When someone says I am a Hindu, it is not about religion or how one lives. It’s about accepting others as they are. It is not about you should wear this or eat this. That imposition falls in the realm of -ism. Hinduness is free from ism.”

Bhagwat said, “Samrasta (harmony) is about respecting diversity, working together like one works with his own self. Every human being needs to be humane and one must learn to express humanness.”

The briefing took place in New Delhi and was attended by Ram Madhav, national general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and India Foundation director A Surya Prakash, director of Centre for Land Warfare Studies Dhruv C Katoch and other scholars.

The welcome note was delivered by Jayant Sinha, one of India Foundation directors and MoS, Civil Aviation.

A scholar of India Foundation said there are so many misconceptions about Sangh that we had to hold this meeting.