Caravan News
NEW DELHI — In an open criticism of the politics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Wednesday disapproved the types of ‘shamshan-kabristan’ politics.
During a Q&A session at the conclusion of the three-day RSS conclave “Future of Bharat: An RSS perspective”, when Bhagwat was asked about “politics of polarization” with reference to PM Modi’s last year’s ‘shamshan-kabristan’ remarks, he said such politics was practiced for power and not for public welfare.
“If this happens then what JP (Jayaprakash Narayan), (Mahatma) Gandhi had expected… Then this question will not arise. Shamshan, Kabristan, saffron terror all these issues will not come up. These crop up when politics is practised for power and not for welfare of people,” Bhagwat was quoted as saying by NDTV.
The RSS is the ideological mentor of the BJP.
During Uttar Pradesh Assembly election campaigns in February 2017, PM Modi had used the word ‘shamshan-kabristan’ while accusing the then Akhilesh Yadav government of discriminating on the basis of religion.
Modi had said: “If you create a kabristan (Muslim graveyard) in a village, then a shamshan (Hindu cremation ground) should be created. If electricity is given uninterrupted in Ramzan, then it should be given in Diwali without a break. There should be no discrimination.”
Political observers noted that this statement of PM had majorly polarized the electorate leading to a massive win for his BJP in the Assembly elections and saffron party’s Yogi Adityanath, known for his anti-Muslim speeches, was installed as Chief Minister.
