India has no option but to be powerful as it has been witnessing the ‘wickedness of the evil forces” on all its borders, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat has said. Bhagwat also stressed that India must not be dependent on others for national security.
“There are evil forces in the world that are aggressive by nature,” Bhagwat said in an interview published in the latest issue of RSS-linked weekly magazine Organiser, as reported by news agency PTI.
“We have no option but to be powerful as we have been witnessing the wickedness of the evil forces on all our borders,” the RSS chief said during the interaction in the backdrop of the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha of RSS on March 21-23, 2025.
The interview was recorded before Operation Sindoor – India’s precision strikes on terror camps in Pakistan after the 22 April Pahalgam terror attack.
“True strength is internal. We should be able to defend ourselves. No one should be able to conquer us, not even if multiple powers come together,” Bhagwat said.
Bhagwat also called for unity in the Hindu society and making ‘Bharat’ so mighty in military power and economy that it cannot be ‘conquered’ even if “multiple powers come” together. He, however, stressed that strength should be combined with virtues and righteousness as a “mere brute power” can be directionless leading to ‘blatant violence’.
Bhagwat stressed that India must not be dependent on others for national security. “True strength is internal. We should be able to defend ourselves. No one should be able to conquer us, not even if multiple powers come together.”
Bhagwat said work is going on to strengthen Hindu society but it is not complete yet.
Anguish against the atrocities on Hindus: Bhagwat
“Slowly but surely, that situation is evolving,” he said, adding, “This time, the way anguish against the atrocities on Hindus in Bangladesh has been expressed is unprecedented. Even local Hindus (in Bangladesh) now say — we won’t flee. We’ll stay and fight for our rights.”
Outlining the RSS’ resolve for the next quarter of the century, he said it is to unite the ‘entire Hindu society’ and take Bharat to the pinnacle of glory, and eventually extend this transformation to the whole world.
“The Hindu society must awaken now. Forgetting divisions and selfishness, we need to shape our personal, family, social and professional life based on the ‘dharmik’ values rooted in Hindutva,” he said when asked about his message for the well-wishers, thinkers and the Hindu society in this centenary year of the RSS.
Bhagwat said the RSS is a principle-centred organisation with the idea that ‘Bharat is a Hindu Rashtra‘ embedded in its core functioning.
“We may take inspiration and follow the direction given by great personalities, but in every desh-kaal-paristhiti (time and situation), we must carve our own path. This calls for constant discernment between what is eternal (nitya) and what is situational (anitya),” he said.
True strength is internal. We should be able to defend ourselves. No one should be able to conquer us, not even if multiple powers come together.
Bhagwat said there is “complete freedom” in the RSS to express diverse and conflicting opinions during discussion but once a decision is reached by building consensus, everyone keeps aside their individual opinions by merging them into the collective decision.
“The eternal is preserved; the transient evolves with time, space and context,” he added.
