Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction MP Sanjay Raut on Tuesday said that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat should support the opposition bloc I.N.D.I.A. to "save the democracy" in the nation. His remarks came as a response to the RSS chief's speech that he delivered during an address at 'Vijayadashmi Utsav' in Maharashtra's Nagpur. Bhagwat during his address said that "there are some people in the world and in India who do not want that India should move forward. They try to create factions and clashes in society."
Raut while responding to Bhagwat's speech said that if the RSS chief was trying to indicate this towards the opposition, then he should be the first one to join the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, "If people carrying different ideologies came into the I.N.D.I.A. alliance and they are trying to fight against dictatorship, then Mohan Bhagwat (RSS Chief) should support the I.N.D.I.A. alliance to save the nation, democracy and the constitution," reported news agency ANI.
The Shiv Sena UBT leader further said, "During the Emergency, the Sangh leaders of that time were in jail, people having varying views were in jail and later they came together with the Bharatiya Janata Party and formed the Janata Party and ended dictatorship. You should know this if you don't know, I would like to say that Lal Krishna Advani is still alive, he was also in jail, Atal Ji was also sent to jail, and people with different views along with him, including Jayprakash Narayan. We have to tell Mohan Bhagwat ji that this is the misfortune of this country," ANI reported.
Raut then took a jibe at Bhagwat over the Manipur issue by saying "If you talk about Manipur, then talk about Ladakh too. Today is Dussehra. Today is a holy day, everyone should speak the truth."
Bhagwat earlier in the day called on civil society to bridge the gap of mutual mistrust. Bhagwat during his address today said, "In Manipur, when people on both sides of the conflict are seeking peace, which are these forces that are attempting to trigger hatred and violence by causing an incident as soon as any positive step is seen being taken in that direction? Multidimensional efforts will be required to solve this grave problem."
"To resolve this vexed problem, we would need strong political will, concurrent actions and efficiency. Simultaneously, the enlightened leadership of society will also have to play a special role in bridging the gap of mutual distrust that has arisen due to the unfortunate situation between the two communities," he added, as quoted by ANI.