"Muslims Should Do 'Surya Namaskar', Worship Rivers": RSS Leader's Remark

The Hindu religion is "supreme" and Muslims in India should "worship rivers and the Sun for environmental reasons", senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader Dattatreya Hosabale declared Tuesday at an event in Uttar Pradesh's Sant Kabir Nagar.

"Nothing will go wrong for them… if our Muslim brothers also perform 'surya namaskar', what harm will come to them? It doesn't mean they will be prevented from going to the mosque," he said, "Our Hindu religion is supreme. It speaks for everyone."

Describing 'surya namaskar', a sequence of yoga poses, as a "scientific and health-oriented practice", Hosabale said, "What harm will it do to Muslims? Is it wrong if those who pray do 'pranayama'? We won't say 'if you do this, you give up namaz'. We will not say that."

"People are free to follow any faith by they should prioritise 'human religion'," he said at an event attended by lawmakers from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party – the RSS' political protege, while also speaking darkly of the Partition; 'what happened to Hindus is known to all', Hosabale said.

The RSS leader also declared Hindu philosophy teaches 'non-violence towards all living beings and nature', and highlighted India's unique tradition of naming children after deities.

Hosabale's comments have been seen by many as reframing practice of the Hindu religion as a standard of environmental common sense, linked to culture and health-related practices, which makes following it less about faith and more about a 'civilisational inheritance'.

The "Hindu religion is supreme" remark also raised eyebrows, as did "won't be prevented from going to the mosque". The former was seen as underlining the superiority of one faith over the other and the latter with a subtext of 'assimilation', indicating that Muslims can 'remain' Muslims, so long as they accept Hindu-majority symbols as normative public culture.

In June Hosabale demanded a 'debate' on retaining the words 'secular' and 'socialist' in the Constitution. "During Emergency, these were added… were not part of the original Preamble."

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The demand drew fierce pushback from the opposition and civil society; Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said on X, "The mask of the RSS has come off again. The Constitution irks them because it speaks of equality, secularism, and justice. The RSS-BJP want the Manusmriti."

With input from agencies

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