Pahalgam Terror Attack: RSS chief invokes Ramayana, says Arjun must fight and slay

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Saturday backed a muscular response to the Pahalgam massacre with its chief Mohan Bhagwat saying, “It’s Arjun’s duty to fight and slay.” The terrorists who shot dead the men in the holiday destination in South Kashmir did so after ensuring that the tourists they targeted for killing were Hindus.

Citing the Ramayana, the RSS chief said, “Killing Ravan is also an act of non-violence, because no matter what you do, he will never change.”

Bhagwat said that the leader of the country has to protect his people and therefore will take tough decisions, as the terror strike was an unprovoked attack on innocent people. “We never insult or harm our neighbours. But when they provoke and bleed us, the state has to do what’s best in our self-interest,” the RSS chief asserted while speaking at a book release function in the national capital.

The government has already made public its resolve to avenge the jihadi barbarity with prime minister Narendra Modi telling a public meeting in Bihar that India would “identify, track and punish” the murderers and their backers. “We will pursue them to the ends of the earth,” he said. Modi also said, “Every effort will be made to ensure that justice is done. The entire nation is firm in this resolve. Everyone who believes in humanity is with us. I thank the people of various countries and their leaders who have stood with us in these times.” He added that the willpower of 140 crore Indians will break the back of sponsors of terrorism. New Delhi also received unconditional support from powerful countries that had earlier taken a softer stand on Pakistan’s proxy wars on India by recruiting, training and facilitating terror attacks.

The swelling public anger over the attack saw the government suspending treaties with the hostile neighbour, cancelling visas of its nationals, and declaring its embassy officials as persona non grata. Even those in the political spectrum, who routinely underplay the threat from Islamic terror and turn the other way when organisations such as Hamas unleash brutality against Israelis, have been forced to back a tough response against Pakistan.

India-Pakistan relationsKashmirMohan BhagwatPahalgamRSSterror attack