Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat said here on Tuesday that trolling — posting false or insulting messages on social media — amounted to “hitting below the belt”, and his organisation did not support those who “display such an aggressive behaviour”.
“In every field of life, decency should be maintained. We do not support aggressive individuals who troll; there should be a decent debate,” he said, according to tweets by Prasar Bharati chief A. Sooryaprakash and others who attended his interaction with over 50 members of New Delhi’s diplomatic corps.
The participants included representatives of the European Union, but those of the Pakistan High Commission said they were not invited.
Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha moderated the interaction organised by India Foundation, a think tank that espouses right-of-centre views, which has BJP general secretary Ram Madhav as one of its directors.
While the event was not open to the media, The Hindu spoke to some of the participants. They said it began with a short address by Mr. Bhagwat, followed by a question-and-answer session in English. “The response on trolling was to a question whether or not the RSS supported such a behaviour,” a senior diplomat said. Most diplomats said no questions were asked about the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh or the RSS view on India’s relationship with China and Pakistan.
Ayodhya dispute
Mr. Bhagwat was asked if he saw a solution to the Ayodhya dispute by the next elections and if he would consider it a shared site. He replied there would be a court ruling and the RSS would abide by it.
There were questions about the RSS’s relationship with the BJP, considered its political wing. “The Sangh [the RSS] doesn’t run the BJP, the BJP doesn’t run the Sangh. As Swayamsewaks, we consult [each other] and exchange notes, but are independent in functioning,” he said.
He was asked about Hinduism and what it meant to be a Hindu. “Hinduness is different from Hinduism. With time, we change. When someone says I am a Hindu, it is not about religion or how one lives. It is about accepting others as they are. It is not about you should wear this, eat this … that imposition is an ‘ism’. Hinduness is free from this ‘ism’. Hinduness is the ever-changing quality of Hinduism,” he said.
Project visits
Another source present at the meeting said Mr. Bhagwat spoke about the work done by the RSS in health, education and rural development, and asked the diplomats to visit the projects to make their own assessments.
The event, called “Breakfast Briefing”, was part of an ongoing series of interactions organised for the diplomatic corps.