Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh President Mohan Bhagwat on Friday said a person born into the Hindu faith can never be “anti-India” as it was their intrinsic nature to be patriotic, reported PTI. Bhagwat said that for Hindus, the love for the country flowed from their dharma, something that even Mahatma Gandhi spoke of in his writings.
Bhagwat made the remarks the book launch of Making of a Hindu Patriot: Background of Gandhiji’s Hind Swaraj, written by JK Bajaj and MD Srinivas.
“If someone is Hindu, he has to be patriotic, that will be his or her basic character and nature,” the Hindutva group leader said. “At times you may have to awaken his or her patriotism but he [Hindu] can never be anti-India. But we have to be conscious of the fact that if one loves his country it doesn’t mean land only, it means its people, rivers, culture, traditions and everything.”
The RSS leader added that the concept of dharma in Hinduism was wider than religion. Bhagwat said that Gandhi spoke about how, for him, dharma and patriotism were not different from one another as his love for his motherland originated from his spirituality. “Gandhiji had said that his patriotism originates from his dharma,” he said.
Bhagwat added that Hinduism believed in the existence of unity. “Difference does not mean separatism and Gandhiji has suggested that Hinduism is the religion of all religions,” he said.
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