The RSS Tuesday put its weight behind the stand taken by the Centre on marriage rights for the LGBTQ community, saying “marriage can only take place between opposite genders”.
“I have said this before on record: you can live with anyone you like, but in the Hindu philosophy of life, marriage is a sanskar. It is not an instrument of only enjoyment. Neither is it a contract. The sanskar of marriage means two individuals getting married and living together, but not just for themselves. They also start a family.” RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale said during media interaction on the final day of the three-day meeting of the organisation’s apex body, Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha, in Samalkha, Haryana.
He said marriage was “in the interest of their (the couple’s) native place and the society at large”. “So in Hindu traditions, the ritual mantras say you are coming together to make social life better. So those who enter the grihastha ashram (the institution of marriage) are there to fulfill this ideal. It is not for personal, physical and sexual enjoyment. The institution may require some reform, but marriage will always happen between a man and woman.”
Hosabel was responding to questions on the Modi government’s affidavit before the SC on petitions seeking legal recognition for same-sex marriage. On Monday, the SC referred the matter to a five-judge Constitution Bench saying the matter raises questions of “seminal importance”. The government’s affidavit said the matter should be left to Parliament, adding that a “legislative understanding of marriage in the Indian statuary and personal law regime” refers only to marriage between biological men and women and that any interference “would cause complete havoc”.
“Courtesy Indian Express”