GUWAHATI: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday described the terms Hindutva and Bharat as intertwined, adding, “as long as Hindutva is there, there will be Bharat”.
Addressing Luitporiya Hindu Sammelan here, Bhagwat said, most of the ancient civilisation of Bharat such as at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa and culture developed in places that are now in Pakistan. Why didn’t Pakistan stake claim to the name Bharat when the country was carved out of India? “Because they knew Bharat has a Hindutva flavour. As long as Hindutva is there, there will be Bharat.”
“India forgot its enmity with Pakistan on August 15, 1947, but Pakistan hasn’t,” he added.
Attended among others by Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, some of his ministerial colleagues, 20 tribal kings and religious leaders, it was the RSS’s biggest-ever programme in the Northeast in terms of attendance.
Many viewed it as an attempt by the Sangh Parivar to galvanise its election machinery ahead of next month’s Assembly elections in Nagaland, Meghalaya and Tripura.
The BJP is in power in Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. Bhagwat asserted that the Sangh was not there to scare or dominate anyone but for social cohesion.