Bhagwat dubs CAA protests 'organised violence'

New Delhi : Asserting that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act was not against any particular religious minority, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat on sunday hit out at "opportunists" who unleashed "organised violence" on the pretext of CAA opposition.

Speaking at RSS's Vijaya Dashami event, he also made references to abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and the Supreme Court's Ram Mandir verdict.

"The CAA does not oppose any particular religious community. But those who wanted to oppose this new law misled our Muslim brothers by propagating a false notion that it was aimed at restricting the Muslim population," Bhagwat said.

"Using the CAA, Opportunists unleashed organised violence in the name of protests. Even before something could be thought out, coronavirus pandemic crept in. In this background, the efforts by rioters and opportunists to reignite the conflict still continue."

He was referring to anti-CAA protests across the country, including in Shaheen Bagh here, and subsequent Delhi riots in February 2020.

The RSS chief acknowledged the restraint shown by people at large in the aftermath of the Ram Mandir verdict last year as well as the August 5 decision to abrogate Article 370.

He said that while healthy political competition was always welcome, if it morphed into hatred, bitterness and animosity, it weakened the social fabric.

"Those misaligned with or opposed to our socio-cultural values have, while professing to be the champions of democracy and secularism, continued to befool and confuse people. Dr BR Ambedkar used the phrase 'grammar of anarchy' for such situation," added Bhagwat.