New Delhi: Hailing Operation Sindoor, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat said the government of India gave a fitting response after the April 22 Pahalgam attack, in which 26 civilian tourists were killed by armed terrorists.
Speaking at the RSS’s annual Vijayadashmi rally on October 2, which also marked the centenary of the organization, Bhagwat said the attack led to a wave of grief, sadness, and anger across Bharat.
“Even though we maintain friendly relations with other countries, and we will continue to do so, when it comes to our security, we need to be more careful, more watchful and stronger. After the Pahalgam attack, the positions taken by various countries also revealed which of them are our friends, and to what extent,” he said. The RSS was founded on Dussehra (September 27) in 1925 in Nagpur by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, a physician from Maharashtra.
Amid US tariff impact on India, Bhagwat called for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, he said, “we must ensure that dependence does not become a compulsion for us, and we are able to act according to our own will. There is no substitute for Swadeshi and Swavalamban (self-reliance).”
He also expressed concern over recent regime changes in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal, triggered by public unrest. ‘The forces wanting to create such disturbances in Bharat are active inside as well as outside our country,’ he said.
