India is a Hindu nation, says RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat

Mumbai: Stoking yet another controversy, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday said India is a Hindu nation and Hindutva is its identity.

"Hindustan is a Hindu nation...Hindutva is the identity of our nation and it (Hinduism) can incorporate others (religions) in itself," he said.

Last week, Bhagwat had said in Cuttack, "The cultural identity of all Indians is Hindutva and the present inhabitants of the country are descendants of this great culture."

If inhabitants of England are English, Germany are Germans and USA are Americans then why all inhabitants of Hindustan are not known as Hindus, he had posed.

Bhagwat was in Mumbai on Sunday on the occasion of Krishna Janamashtami to attend the inauguration programme of the golden jubilee celebrations of the VHP, that was founded in Mumbai on August 29-30, 1964.

He said the goal of VHP in the coming five years would be to ensure equality among the Hindus of the nation.

"For the next 5 years we have to work with the aim of bringing equality among all the Hindus in the country. All Hindus should be drinking water at one place, should be praying at one place and after their death, their bodies should be burnt at the same place," he said.

VHP Chief Praveen Togadia, who was also present, told reporters when asked to comment on Ram Mandir issue, that a grand Ram Mandir will be built in Ayodhya "at any cost".

"We have decided to build a grand temple in Ayodhya at any cost. Ram Mandir will be on our agenda till we do not build the temple," he said.

Togadia said that no step taken by Pakistan should be considered a step towards peace-making till it hands over people who are wanted by the Indian authorities.

"Pakistan is violating ceasefires again and again on the border. Unless Pakistan hands over Dawood Ibrahim, Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar to India, and they are lawfully hanged by India, none of their steps should be considered as peacemaking steps," he said.