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New Delhi: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat said Sunday that everyone should serve people without discrimination amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“In times of coronavirus, we must serve all people without any discrimination. Whoever needs help is ours. Helping our own people isn’t a favour, it’s our duty,” Bhagwat added.

In a 40-minute YouTube address titled “Current Situation and Our Role”, aired live Sunday evening, the sarsanghchalak touched upon the Palghar lynching, which has taken on communal overtones, and appealed against targeting entire communities for the alleged transgressions of a few members.

“Some people try to hide from getting tested because they don’t want to be sent to quarantine,” he said. “Some might think that the government is targeting them in banning their events, and that may cause them to be angry.”

“But if a few people, out of anger or fear, don’t follow the guidelines, it doesn’t mean that their entire community is targeted for that,” Bhagwat added. While he didn’t specify the context, he appeared to be referring to recent attempts to communalise India’s fight against coronavirus in light of the Tablighi Jamaat episode.

“Some people will use this anger to ignite to divide the nation, but we must not let that happen,” he said. “The sensible members of every community must try and get their community to follow all the rules.”

Referring to the 16 April lynching of two Hindu tribal ascetics and their driver in Maharashtra’s Palghar. “These killings happened in such testing times…we shouldn’t get distracted by the ifs and buts, the sanyasis were beaten to death. The law can’t be taken into one’s own hands,” Bhagwat said.

As certain sections sought to give the lynching episode a communal colour, the Maharashtra home minister released a list of the 101 people arrested for the crime and stated that none of them was Muslim.

He added that a memorial service was scheduled for 28 April in honor of the men killed.

Among other things, Bhagwat also weighed in on India’s decision to export the anti-malarial hydroxychloroquine, which has been touted as a potential cure for coronavirus, to different nations.

“India lifted the ban on the export of a drug that could help with the disease, even if it brought economic loss to us. This is because it’s in our nature to never discriminate and help all those in need,” Bhagwat said. Earlier this month, India decided to lift the ban on hydroxychloroquine exports as demand for the drug grew amid the coronavirus pandemic, the biggest global health scare in decades.

Also read: RSS calls off shakhas, Mohan Bhagwat says need to make social distancing a success

A push for swadeshi

Bhagwat also said the lockdown was a good opportunity to “reinvent our lives and rely on ‘swadeshi (domestically-produced)’ resources’”. “If something isn’t made here, then we must learn to live our lives without it,” he said. “Our reliance must be on swadeshi items, not videshi items. We must then also ensure that the quality of our swadeshi products is perfect, without a flaw,” he added.

Bhagwat also said it was important for everyone to follow discipline even after things return to normal.

“Dr Ambedkar, while giving his speeches in the constituent assembly, also emphasised a lot on the need for the public to follow the laws laid down,” he said.

“The relief work might end eventually, but we have to keep working to ensure the disease doesn’t return to us. We have to maintain that discipline in our lives.”

Also read: The last thing we need from 69-year old celibate RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat is marriage advice

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