Hindutva believes in co-existence, says RSS

A day after senior BJP leader L K Advani spoke of an "inclusive Hindutva", RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat today said Hindutva believes in peaceful co-existence of all communities.

He said a political party may have compulsion from the political point of view to rethink on the ideology of Hindutva, but RSS does not. Describing Hindutva and 'Bhartiyata' as two faces of the same coin, Bhagwat said the forces who rake up this issue are playing in the hands of those who want to destroy India and erode its cultural base.

"The roots of our strength lie in Hindutva as it is the basis of our cultural identity and co-existence," he said and pointed to Pakistan, Burma, Nepal and Bangladesh which were part of united India and are now facing "identity crisis".

Paying rich tributes to Jan Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, the RSS chief said "the principles of truth and non-violence are fundamentals of Hindutva and despite facing many odds we have stuck to them".

Ridiculing detractors of Hindutva for calling it communal,  Bhagwat said, "It believes in co-existence and human welfare as whole, which no other philosophy teaches in the world."

It was because of India's rich culture, heritage and value-based philosophy that it remained world leader for 3000 years, he said adding the same ideology was nurtured by Mookerjee.

Bhagwat said once Mookerjee was told in Parliament that "we will crush Jan Sangh" and he (Mookerjee) replied, "We will crush your crushing mentality."