All eyes were on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat as he took the stage at Nagpur’s Resham Bagh to address fellow swayamsevaks on the occasion of Vijaydashami, also marking the completion of 91 years since the Sangh’s inception in 1925. There were a number of reasons why Bhagwat’s annual address was of special importance this year: Bhagwat was expected to comment on the recent terror attacks in Kashmir, the Indian Army’s much celebrated surgical strikes, the political bickering that followed the strikes and lastly, for the lack of his (and other swayamsevaks’) calves and knees being on display.
Yes, the RSS finally abandoned the infamous khaki shorts after nine decades and have donned the new ganavesh (uniform), replacing the shorts with brown trousers. Sorry, Nitin Gadkari fans; there won’t be any more scintillating images like these.
The speech, however, broadcast in entirety by state-run Doordarshan News (for the third consecutive year) while portions of it were played live on CNN-News18, Times Now, NewsX, IBN7 and News24, was ultimately quite tame. Moreover, the second half of his address was devoted to the relatively non-contentious topic of education. In the first half though, Bhagwat took pot-shots at Pakistan, reiterated that Kashmir – including Pakistan Occupied Kashmir – is an integral part of India and lauded the Indian armed forces for the surgical strikes. He also condemned “swarthi shaktiyan” [selfish forces] in the country for putting their personal interests ahead of the nations’, possibly a reference to Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) demanding proof of the surgical strikes.
Perhaps the most provocative remarks Bhagwat made were regarding the flogging of Dalits in Una, Gujarat on the suspicion of cow slaughter. Referring to it as an “untoward incident” which had been used by “inimical elements with the idea of maligning the government, administration and the benign forces like the RSS”, Bhagwat went on to detail efforts by the Sangh to fight caste-based exclusion in villages of Madhya Bharat pranth. On the issue of gau rakshaks, he criticised “undesirable elements who rake up the issue of cow slaughter” for “serving their narrow personal or political ends”, and requested the administration to not weigh such “anti-social elements” on the same scale as “law abiding citizens”.
Predictably, Bhagwat stuck to regular Sangh talking points and at the end of the day, the only thing memorable about this Vijayadashami address was the lack of grown men parading around in khaki shorts. Thank heavens those days are over.