'RSS for strong India with Hindutva at its core'

Events in the country over the past year have put a question mark on India’s pretensions of being a big power in the world, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat said here Sunday.

“Till about two-three years ago, there was a perception that India could emerge as a big power. But things have changed in the last one year,” Bhagwat told RSS workers assembled for a Guru Purnima function.

He, however, did not identify the events that changed the perception of the people, about the country.

Bhagwat, on a three-day tour to the state, said there were certain misgivings about the Sangh’s ideology. “The fact is that the essence of its activities is to build a strong India with Hindutva at its core,” he added.

“Hindutva is the binding force behind various diversities in the country and forms the base of the unity of the nation,” he stated, arguing Hindutva was at the core of the identity of the citizens of India.

Seeking to remove the ‘misgiving’ that Hindutva was an ideology of a particular religion or community, the RSS chief said Hinduism has accommodated all religions and communities.

“Our motto should be to see a strong India and for that, if need be, we should study the examples set by countries which have prospered in the recent past,” he said.

Putting society at the core of the country’s development, Bhagwat said a leader or a political party could do little to make a nation strong unless there was reform in the society, based on the right ideology.

“An ideal society produces good people and subsequently able leaders. The nation needs not one leader but many such leaders,” Bhagwat said.
Much attention was being attached to the RSS chief’s visit to Patna in view of the split in the NDA in the state last month. But he did not touch any political issue directly and talked only about the ideology of the Sangh.

Several senior BJP leaders including party’s state chief Mangal Pandey, Sushil Kumar Modi, Ashwini Kumar Choubey and Nand Kishore Yadav attended the function, which was organised by the local unit of the RSS.