Digvijaya seeks Bhagwat’s apology over ‘true independence’ remark

Gwalior, Jan 16 (PTI) Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Thursday sought an apology from RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for claiming that India got “true Independence” with the consecration of Ram Temple in Ayodhya last year.

Singh accused Bhagwat of disrespecting martyrs like Bhagat Singh and said that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had supported the British Raj and allied with the Muslim League.

RSS leader Syama Prasad Mookerjee, who founded Bharatiya Jan Sangh which eventually became the BJP, served as a minister in a coalition government in Bengal with the Muslim League, claimed Singh.

“He has disrespected the feelings of lakhs and crores of people. This is an insult to Bhagat Singh, Chandra Shekhar Azad, and Ganesh Vidyarthi who sacrificed their lives,” said the Congress leader when asked about the RSS chief’s remark.

Bhagwat said in Indore on Monday that the date of the consecration of Ram Temple in Ayodhya should be celebrated as ‘Pratishtha Dwadashi’ as the “true independence” of Bharat, which faced “parachakra” (enemy attack) for several centuries, was established on this day.

“Mohan Bhagwatji has insulted freedom fighters and he should apologise,” Singh said.

“When the Constitution was adopted, the RSS openly opposed it. Burnt its copies. They don’t remember it,” he claimed.

Recalling the contributions of Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and ordinary citizens in the freedom struggle, Singh said, “It was an insult to the freedom fighters, who fought against the British yoke and sustained bullet wounds and lathi blows.” RSS people supported the British Raj and formed governments with the Muslim League, he said. “Syama Prasad Mookerjee was the deputy chief minister (finance minister) of Bengal with the CM belonging to the Muslim League,” said the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister.

An idol of Ram Lalla was consecrated at the grand Ayodhya temple on January 22, 2024, in a landmark event led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As per the Hindu lunar calendar, the consecration ceremony completed one year on January 11, 2025.

During his speech on Monday, Bhagwat had said that after India got political independence from the British on August 15, 1947, a written Constitution was made according to the path shown by that specific vision, which comes out of the "self" of the country, but the document was not run according to the spirit of the vision at that time.

He asserted that the Ram temple movement was not started to oppose anyone. It was meant to awaken the "self" (swa) of Bharat so that the country could stand on its own feet and show the path to the world, he had said. PTI COR LAL NR