One leader, party can’t bring change: Bhagwat

On a day the BJP was crediting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its chief Amit Shah for the party’s victory in Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat is learnt to have said that “an individual leader, a slogan, a party, government and miracles alone cannot bring about positive change in society and nation”.

Addressing the concluding session of the closed-door three-day meeting of RSS’s Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal (All India Working Committee) in Lucknow, Bhagwat, according to a RSS functionary, said, “Jab tak samaaj saath me nahin khada hoga, neta, naara, party, sarkar aur chamatkar se samaj ka bhala nahin ho sakta (a leader, a slogan, a party, government and miracles cannot bring about welfare in society unless society participates in governance).” He is lea-rnt to have added that a major chan-ge has taken place at the Centre and there is need to give time to the new government to perform.

Sources said Bhagwat asked all RSS office-bearers to work hard and create awareness in society that public support as well as guidance is valuable for the government. He is also reported to have said “conspiracies were being hatched against Hindu society and that such conspiracies must be exposed”.

Another functionary, who was part of the meeting, said the issue of ‘love jihad’ was also raised by a senior RSS office-bearer.