Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat has called for a sustained interfaith effort built around dialogue, service and local cooperation. He told an international gathering in New York that religious diversity must be accepted and protected.
Speaking at the ‘One World, One Humanity’ programme at Madison Square Garden, he said the RSS would support religious leaders working to build trust between communities. The gathering brought together more than 180 participants from 30 countries, with representatives of several major faiths taking part.
“The RSS with all its might is always with you because we are on the same page,” he said.
His comments came as religious leaders talked about religious hatred, armed conflicts, displacement, social divisions and the impact of new technologies. More than 200 religious representatives had taken part in consultations that passed a declaration calling on faith leaders to reject the use of religion to justify hatred, humiliation, dehumanisation or violence.
‘Humanity is one’
Bhagwat said different religions could follow different paths while sharing a common human foundation. He said the idea of unity does not require people to give up their individual faiths or traditions.
“I am working in a society which traditionally says that religions might be different but humanity is one,” he said.
The RSS chief said people can understand the same ultimate truth in different ways because human perception differed.
“That truth is one truth but it is described in many ways according to the describer,” he added.
He described religious diversity as a natural part of human life and called for different traditions to be respected.
“Diversity is a decoration for our innate unity. It has to be accepted. It has to be respected. It has to be protected,” Bhagwat said, adding, “As I protect my own specific nature, I have to protect others also.”
He also said India has a long tradition of giving shelter to communities that faced insecurity elsewhere. “Traditionally, Bharat has been giving shelter to everybody. So those who could not find a safe place in the world, they came to Bharat, they found their place,” he said.
‘Politics – a game of self-interest’
A major part of his address was about the role of politics in addressing social and religious divisions. He said religious and community leaders should first work within society and build public support before seeking to influence governments.
“These things do not happen through politics. Sorry to say, but the fact is, politics has now become a game of self-interest. We and ours is the solution. So our experience in Bharat is that we have to start with the society,” he said.
Bhagwat said democratic governments respond to public opinion and that a strong social consensus could influence political decisions.
“Politics today, especially in democracy, depends on the public view,” he said and added, “If there is public opinion, then no politician will dare to go against it.”
He urged participants to create local examples of cooperation in their own countries and connect those efforts across regions.
“Whatever we decide to do today, we should start in our own country and create pockets of such selfless service, such atmosphere of unity,” he said, adding, “We should create at our own place the models of the world we want.”
From dialogue to service
Bhagwat said interfaith dialogue should be accompanied by practical work. He described service as an important part of the RSS’s approach and said volunteers assist people without asking about their religion.
“Dialogue is the first step. Service is another. Not one step after that. It had to start simultaneously,” he said.
According to him, RSS volunteers, with support from society, are involved in around 130,000 service initiatives of different sizes.
He cited the 1996 Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision over Haryana as an example. The crash involved a Saudi Arabian Airlines aircraft and a Kazakhstan Airlines plane, killing all 349 people aboard. Bhagwat said most of the passengers were Muslims and that RSS volunteers who reached the site helped without considering their religious identity.
“We never thought at that time that these are Muslims,” he said and reiterated, “Whoever is needing, we are serving.”
He said the organisation’s approach is based on service rather than political gain. “We could do this because we are not in politics. We do it. We only give. We don’t want anything,” he claimed.
Taking interfaith dialogue to the local level
Bhagwat called for the international gathering’s message to reach communities at the provincial, district and block levels.
He said talks among senior religious leaders will have limited impact unless similar relationships are built among ordinary people. “We should take this dialogue to the lower level,” he said.
“If we start at this level and begin instructing our own people and then try to have this dialogue in all the countries, in the provinces of those countries, district level, block level, if you go like that, then the atmosphere will change,” he added.
He referred to the RSS’s dialogue with Muslim and Christian representatives in India, which he said began after a meeting in Delhi in 2018.
“So we started that dialogue. Mainly with Muslims and Christians of Bharat. And step by step, we are going ahead,” he added.
He acknowledged that such efforts could take time and said changing social behaviour require more than simply giving people information about tolerance and unity. “The problem is not knowledge of human beings,” he said.
“In our knowledge, traditional knowledge, all over the world, every society in its tradition has this knowledge somewhere,” he said.
The task, he said, was to turn that knowledge into everyday behaviour. “We have to instill the practice,” Bhagwat said.
Declaration against religious hatred
The gathering also resulted in a declaration signed by religious leaders from 30 countries. It called on faith communities to reject hatred and violence carried out in the name of religion and to take responsibility for their own teachings and practices.
“We will reject the use of religion to justify hatred, humiliation, dehumanisation or violence and teach that deep conviction can coexist with respect for those who believe differently,” the declaration said.
The document also called for young people from different religious and cultural backgrounds to build relationships before conflicts or tragedies occur. “The person we know is harder to hate,” it said.
It urged religious communities to work together in helping people affected by hunger, illness, displacement and persecution.
“Our cooperation should be visible not only in what we say together, but in what we do together,” the declaration added.
The leaders also addressed artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies, calling for human dignity and freedom to guide technological development.
“We will insist that human progress is in the service of human beings and that technology strengthen rather than diminish dignity, truth, freedom and human connection,” it said.
The programme also used Raksha Bandhan and the tying of rakhis as symbols of care, protection and mutual responsibility. Participants were encouraged to extend the tradition beyond families to neighbours, strangers and people from other religious communities.
Bhagwat has headed the RSS since 2009. The organisation was founded by K.B. Hedgewar in Nagpur in 1925 and marked its centenary in 2025. The RSS describes itself as a volunteer-based cultural organisation with a network of branches and affiliated bodies working in areas including social service, education, labour and student affairs.
