MARGAO
Noted thinker and president of Dakshinayan Abhiyan Datta Naik on Tuesday said that Swami Vivekananda was a secular man, who had respect for all religions, but lamented that the Hindutva forces, including the RSS, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal, have all hijacked
Vivekananda by making him as their icon.
Naik was delivering a talk at the Rachol seminary which is celebrating 125 years of Swami Vivekananda’s speech at Chicago. The talk was organised by the seminary in collaboration with Dakshinayan Abhiyan.
Datta said, “Vivekananda is an icon. We need not search for answers. We have to turn to his literature and answer in his own words what he said about cow slaughter, caste system, reservations, his views on Islam and Christianity and conversions.”
Touching on the row over cow slaughter which has been brought to the centrestage by the Hindutva forces, Datta said that Swami Vivekananda’s literature shows that he was not against beef.
Saying that Vivekananda had warned that the caste system would bring about a downfall of the Hindu society, Datta said that
Vivekananda believed that Hindus were embracing Christianity or Islam because of the caste system.
“There may be some odd instances of conversions taking place by force or by the use of sword. But, the caste system was primarily responsible for the conversion of lower Hindu castes and Dalits into other religions,” he added.
On reservations, the president of Dakshinayan Abhiyan said that Swami Vivekananda had advocated reservations for the lower castes in government jobs while urging the high caste Brahmins to go for self-employment.
“When Swami Vivekananda returned from Chicago, he received a rousing welcome. At Madras (Chennai) he made a call to the Brahmins to go for self-employment and leave government jobs for the lower castes,” he added.
Saying that Swami Vivekananda wanted Indians to be fearless and self-confident while facing the world, Datta said that Swami believed that like all rivers, which lead to the sea, all religions lead to one common goal.
