Though in the past he had used this phrase he was not so assertive as he was this time. Nevertheless speaking at the RSS's annual Vijaya Dashami rally in Nagpur on October 24 he made it clear "To us, it is the word expressing our identity along with the continuity of its spirituality based traditions and its entire wealth of value system in the land of Bharat". He made it also clear that the word was applicable to all 1.3 bn people of Bharatvarsh. Using the word Bharatvarsh was also significant. It provided an insight that the new Hindu Rashtra would cease to be identified as India, instead its new name would be Bharatvarsh. India is a Hindu Rashtra and the Hindutva is the essence of self-hood.

His assertion coming at this stage point to the fact that the Modi government moving steadily to announce the transformation officially in near future. At no stage Bhagwat talks of Hinduism. This is quite intriguing. Though he said that the term Hindutva has been "distorted" by appending a ritualistic connotation to it and the Sangh does not use it to refer to this misconception, he was quite evasive in clarifying that how was Hindutva distorted or who distorted it.

Bhagwat said when the Sangh says Hindustan is "Hindu Rashtra", it does not have any political or power-centred concept in its mind. Obviously he tried to keep away Hindutva from the popular concept of politics, but this was an intention to conceal the bare fact that it was interfering in the political system and desire to dictate the course of the politics.

It was expected of Bhagwat that he would clarify the approach of the RSS towards the Muslims, but he refrained from speaking the fact. His observation, “the Sangh believes it is the word applicable to all 1.3 billion people who call themselves the sons and daughters of Bharatvarsh, whose everyday life is striving towards an alignment with its moral and ethical code and who are proud of the heritage of their ancestors who successfully traversed the same spiritual landscape since time immemorial" makes it clear that RSS is yet to modify its approach towards the minorities.

He said being oblivious to the true meaning of this term weakens the thread that integrates us with this country and society. "It is for this reason that this term is the first target of castigation by those who instigate inter-group conflicts, who are bent on splitting our country and society," he said.

He further said being Hindu does not require giving up one's faith, language, land or any other identity marker. It only mandates an abandonment of the quest for supremacy."One has only to be alert and keep away from the selfish and hateful forces who confuse and instigate people by showing them false dreams of supremacy, encourage radicalism and foster separatism," he said.

Dwelling on the Covid-19 outbreak and lockdown, he said India stood strong in the face of adversity and dealt with the calamity effectively. But this assertion is far from the truth. It is a known fact the Modi government has let down the poor people of the country. His entire effort was directed to save the rich and the urban middle class.

In fact the anger of the people towards mishandling of the pandemic is clearly visible in the campaigning for the Bihar assembly elections. Even a person like Narendra Modi who is supposed to be a good orator is finding it hard to convince the audience of his intentions.

His remark "There are some reasons why we escaped corona debilitation that few countries could not. Our governing and administrative agencies promptly sprung up in action. They cautioned citizens, created emergency task forces and efficiently implemented control measures," is not correct. Bhagwat should recall what Modi had said; “Mahabharat war got over after 18 days. We will overcome Corona within 21 days”. The fact remains that country is still reeling under the ravaging impact of the pandemic. Life is yet to normalise. Forget of winning the battle against corona.

Of course Government officials, medical practitioners, police officers, municipality workers and cleaners displayed an extraordinary sense of responsibility by dedicatedly serving the infected patients, but the initiative was taken by the state governments, not by the Modi government. The ill-treatment meted out to the labourers and daily wage earners is now the part of the history. Around 450 labourers lost their lives while escaping the wrath of the epidemic. Even the police of the BJP ruled UP state brutally thrashed the labourers and denied them shelters.

It is soothing to the ears to listen good words spoken by Bhagwat about the sensitivity and cooperation between government and society, but the fact is it was only for the rich living in the multiplexes and towers. The Indian cultural ethos of social equality was trampled in Delhi by the BJP workers suitably aided by the Delhi police. If what Bhagwat mentioned; "The larger picture was that of sensitivity, cooperation and mutual trust between governmental administrative agencies and society," then 53 persons had not died in communal riots in Delhi.

Bhagwat talks of restarting educational institutions, compensating teachers, resending students to their schools and colleges while paying fee for the same. Probably he is not aware that our schools, especially in government sector are gasping. The less said about the crime is better. The BJP ruled Uttar Pradesh has emerged as the crime prone state of the country. Under dedicated Sanghi leader Yogi, rape and murder have been institutionalised.

In the ensuing assembly election in Bihar, people have been asking pointed questions to the BJP leaders. But the BJP leadership instead of replying their queries are trying to sacrifice Nitish Kumar to save their skin. Nitish is being made the scapegoat. . The CPI and former JNU student leader Kanhaiya rightly said; “ The BJP is lighting its own house by putting Nitish’s house on fire by the Chirag (lamp) of LJP”. (IPA Service)