Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Wednesday urged people to converse in their mother tongue and respect it, instead of promoting foreign languages like English.

Bhagwat, while addressing a gathering at an event of the ‘Akhil Bharatiya Sahitya Parishad’ here, said people in the country have stopped using their mother tongue. “Here in our country, there are a lot of issues on the use of mother tongue. We have stopped using our mother tongue. As a result, we have to refer to English dictionaries to understand the meaning of our own ‘granths’ (books),” he said.

“Today, we have felicitated several writers of different Indian languages. But, our mother tongue will get real respect, if we start using it,” he said. Speaking about literature, the RSS chief said it should be written for the benefit of society, and not for entertainment or any harm to mankind.? “Literature should be written to make a person responsible,” he said.

Bhagwat also claimed that in ancient times, there was no ‘dharm’ in other countries, and it spread from India to some other nations like China and Japan. He alleged that the contents of some recent books give one an impression that “you are not a Hindu”, and such writings lead society in a “negative” direction, which is “dangerous”.?

Later, during an interactive session, he pitched for ‘Bharat’ over India. ?“Whatever may be the language, the name remains the same... It is the same with our ‘Bharat’. Therefore, everyone should refer to our country as ‘Bharat’,” Bhagwat said.