Owaisi slams RSS chief Bhagwat for alleged double standards on minority rights

During a speech in New York, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat declared that a Hindu who believes Muslims should not live in India would no longer be Hindu, emphasizing a universal humanity. The following day, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi criticized Bhagwat, arguing the RSS delivers one narrative to the international audience and another to its own followers. Owaisi referenced the RSS-published biography of founder K B Hedgewar, which portrays Hedgewar as opposed to the Congress’s push for Hindu-Muslim unity, and quoted former chief M S Golwalkar’s "Bunch of Thoughts," where Muslims and Christians are described as primary internal threats.

He further accused the RSS of not participating in India’s freedom struggle and of fostering communal bias, recalling the 2002 Gujarat riots under the RSS’s proxy influence. Owaisi warned that Muslims are being subjected to the Uniform Civil Code and that Christians face stringent anti-conversion laws, while also raising concerns about the misuse of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Bhagwat, meanwhile, suggested that the RSS is often mischaracterized by external narratives and highlighted its centenary outreach tour across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.