Untouchability Came To India From Outside, Says RSS Leader Krishna Gopal

HYDERABAD -- Senior RSS leader Krishna Gopal on Sunday claimed the practice of untouchability didn't exist in ancient India and it came from outside over the last thousand years.

Addressing Sangh volunteers on the Vijayadashmi Utsav, the joint general secretary of RSS said no person living in "our streets, our towns can be untouchable".

"No person is small...All are equal."

"When I believe (as a Hindu) that there is Brahma, Vishnu and Shiv in humans (Jab maine manaa insan me Brahma, Vishnu aur Shiv hain), then why discriminate? This (tradition of) discrimination came in the last thousand years. There was no such thing as the untouchability in this country (before that)," he said.

"Our Vedic rishis never mentioned this. Where did it come from?...it came from outside," Gopal claimed.

The joint general secretary of RSS was addressing the gathering on the occasion of Vijayadashmi Utsav organised by the Sangh here this evening.

"A Hindu thinks of the wellbeing of everyone. We never say if you do not listen to us you will go to the hell. We follow 'Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah' (let everybody be happy)," he said.

Gopal called on the RSS volunteers to reach out to all sections of the society and eradicate all forms of discrimination.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, when he was the chairman of Minorities Commission, had opposed religion-based reservations, he claimed.

The RSS leader also said that due to the relentless work of Sangh volunteers "today we see Independence Day and Republic Day being celebrated openly in the Northeastern states that have been suffering the violence of separatists forces for long".

RSS members have sacrificed their lives in the face of anti-national forces, he said.

In Kerala, over 400 RSS volunteers have been killed, he said, adding that in the last one year alone over 35 volunteers were killed in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

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