RSS chief champions equality of all, dignity of labour; says priests created castes

“Everyone is equal in the eyes of God and no caste or sect exists before him. All these things like castes were created by priests, which is wrong,” the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat has said.

Bhagwat said the lack of dignity for labour was one of the main reasons behind unemployment in the country, and urged people to respect all kinds of work, irrespective of their nature.

Speaking at a public function in Mumbai on Sunday (February 5), he also asked people to stop running after jobs and said no work could be labelled as big or small, as it was done for society.

Also read: Service should not be done for profit or reward, says Mohan Bhagwat

“Before the Islamic invasion of the country, other invaders did not disturb our lifestyle, our traditions, and our schools of thought. But they (Muslim invaders) had a logical argument — first, they defeated us using their might and then suppressed us psychologically,” he said.

“Due to selfishness, we paved the way for the invaders to attack us. Selfishness prevailed in our society and we stopped giving importance to other people and their work,” he continued.

‘All work should be respected’

“No matter what kind of work people do, it should be respected. Lack of dignity for labour is one of the chief reasons behind unemployment in society. Whether the work requires physical labour or intellect, whether it requires hard work or soft skills, all should be respected,” Bhagwat said.

“Everyone runs after jobs. Government jobs are only around 10 per cent, while other jobs are around 20 per cent. No society in the world can create more than 30 per cent jobs,” he said, adding that work that required manual labour is still not respected.

When one earned a livelihood, one had a responsibility towards society. When every work was being done for society, how could it be big or small or different from each other, the RSS chief asked.

Also read: Unemployment in India hits 16-month high of 8.3% in December

Giving an example, he said a man engaged in washing cups and utensils set up a paan stall with a small corpus of funds.

“The paan shop owner went on to generate wealth of around Rs 28 lakh…But despite that (such examples), our youth keep applying (for jobs) without getting any reply (from the employer),” Bhagwat said.

“There are many farmers in the country who struggle to get married despite earning very good income through agriculture,” he said.

‘India can become vishwaguru’

“The situation in the world is favourable for the country to become vishwaguru (world’s mentor). There is no shortage of skill sets in the country,” he said, adding, “But we are not going to be like other countries after gaining prominence in the world.”

He said the untouchability prevalent in society was opposed by seers and renowned people like Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.

“Disturbed by untouchability, Dr Ambedkar renounced the Hindu dharma. But he did not embrace any other unwarranted religion and chose the path as shown by Gautam Buddha. His teachings are also very much ingrained in Bharat’s line of thinking,” the RSS chief said.

(With inputs from agencies)