Partition migrants were 'warriors', not refugees, says RSS chief Bhagwat

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has said that after the 1947 Partition, the people who came to India were not refugees, but "warriors of struggle" who endured significant hardship and pain out of love for their motherland and "dharma".

These people left behind their wealth, land and businesses built and nurtured over several generations in the newly created Pakistan and chose to come to India, he noted.

Bhagwat was addressing a gathering in Nagpur on Wednesday at the 75th Foundation Day programme of the Sindhu Education Society, an organisation run by the Sindhi community.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader said post-Partition, people consciously decided to come to India from the other side, because they wanted to live in the land which is Bharat, where they can follow their religion without fear.

 

"They were not refugees, though they were displaced, it was a wrong term used for them at that time. They were warriors (sangharshrath yodha) who struggled out of love for their motherland, out of love for their faith. They lost a battle, not because of their own faults alone.

"We, all of us, lost that battle to keep India united. But what did they choose? They did not choose a career, they did not choose wealth. They chose the country, they chose their faith (dharma)," asserted Bhagwat.

The RSS chief referred to the Sindhu Education Society's 75-year journey and said such milestones provide an opportunity to review the work done by an institution and remember its goals.

Speaking about life's hardships, he insisted one should not give up in the face of adverse circumstances; instead, strive to rise again.

"One should not become helpless before circumstances or fate. A person who makes efforts (to come out of difficult times) is the one who ultimately succeeds, while the one who runs away from difficulties has already accepted defeat," Bhagwat told the gathering.

He further said that while acquiring education for employment is important, it should not be the ultimate goal.

Value-based education is necessary to develop the ability to distinguish between right and wrong. Such education does not come only from textbooks, but also from the conduct of teachers and the values they instil in students, Bhagwat emphasised.

The real purpose of education is to create good human beings and a generation that is aware of the welfare of society, he added.