Our volunteers fought for India’s freedom including under Congress’s banner, says RSS

“Not just before independence, but for the freedom of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Goa, and even when Hindus were being tortured under the Nizam’s rule, RSS volunteers stood by the Hindus,” he added.

“Freedom struggle had many facets. It has been said that India got freedom because of only some people’s efforts. Big leaders had to face this deception, including Subhas Chandra Bose. Their contribution was deliberately undermined. In this Amrit Kaal, the country is coming to know of many such bravehearts now,” he said, during a conversation with Panchjanya editor Hitesh Shankar.

Ambekar’s comments come days after Home Minister Amit Shah spoke along similar lines about the recorded history of India’s freedom struggle.

Speaking about the criticism that the RSS worships the saffron flag and not the tricolour, Ambekar said that “those who have no real issue to raise say these things”.

“Our country is thousands of years old. Many national symbols have emerged from time to time. Even the Congress had adopted several kinds of flags before the current flag came. Ever since the tricolour was allowed to be hoisted publicly, RSS offices have hoisted the tricolour,” he said.

“Kuch log baap dada ke kartoot kehte rehte hai, unke paas vartaman ki kartoot nahin hai (some people speak of their forefathers’ achievements because they have no achievements in the present).”

Commenting on India’s age-old traditions, Ambekar said there was a need to save Hindu festivals.“When Holi comes, some people start worrying about water. When some other festival comes, some people express concern about pollution. They attack the Hindu religion through these various ways. Our festivals evolved as conservation of the environment. People celebrating these festivals should give a fitting reply to the critics,” he said.

Asked about campus politics, Ambekar said that ideologies that could not succeed were trying to mislead the youth. “They try to present their ideologies that failed everywhere in a wrong way to the youth on campuses. But our youth protest whenever they hear any anti-national slogans,” he said.

About the RSS’s future, Ambekar said the organisation worked with only long-term goals. “The Sangh will work shoulder to shoulder with all and get into all aspects of society for nation building,” he said.

Both Ambekar and Shankar spoke about the dangers of misinformation and “fake news” in the media. “We have even investigated the information by a famous fact-checker and found out false information in the fact checking in 36 instances,” Shankar said.