In his first public remarks on the outcome of the elections in which the BJP fell short of a majority in the Lok Sabha, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said Monday while referring to the bitter poll campaign, that "decorum was not maintained".
Bhagwat also said that a true sevak (one who serves the people) does not have "ahankar' (arrogance) and works without causing any hurt to others.
"Jo vastavik sevak hai, jisko vastavik sevak kaha ja sakta hai, woh maryada se chalta hai' Uss maryada ka paalan karke jo chalta hai woh karm karta hai lekin karmon mein lipt nahi hota. Usme ahankar nahin aata ki maine kiya. Aur wahi sevak kehlane ka adhikari rehta hai (A true sevak maintains decorum while working' The one who maintains decorum does his work, but remains unattached. There is no arrogance that I did this. Only such a person has the right to be called a sevak),: he said.
The RSS Chief also mentioned the violation of the 'Code of Conduct' by various political parties during the Lok Sabha polls. "Elections are an essential process of democracy, there are two parties in it, hence there is competition, if there is competition then there is a task of moving one forward and pushing others backwards. Don't use it, why are people getting elected? They will go and sit in the Parliament and run the country, they will run it by building consensus, our tradition is to run by building consensus.
"The mind and psyche of each person are different, hence it is not possible to have similar opinions, but when people in the society decide to move together despite having different minds, then mutual consent is formed.
"There are two parties in Parliament so both sides are exposed, it is a bit difficult to reach a consensus among people who have come into competition, that is why we take the hope of a majority, there is competition, not mutual war," Bhagwat said.
"The way we started criticizing each other, and the way our actions in the campaign would increase discord in the society, divide two groups, and create mutual suspicion, was also not taken care of, and organizations like Sangh were also drawn into this, technology falsehoods were served with props, absolute lies; gentlemen do not use this science," he added.
The RSS Chief stressed that it is important to follow decorum during the elections. "There is decorum even in contesting elections, that decorum was not followed, because it is necessary to follow decorum because the challenges before our country have not ended," he said.
-- With inputs from the Indian Express