Hindutva isn't RSS coinage, people of various faiths accepted it 1,000 yrs ago: RSS' Krishan Gopal

Weeks after opposition parties came down heavily on RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for calling all 130 crore Indians as Hindus, RSS Sah Sarkarwah ((Joint General Secretary) Krishna Gopal on Thursday said that Hindutva was the uniting force behind Bharat adding that it is the reason ensured unity in India while nations like Pakistan, USSR and Yugoslavia broke down into smaller countries.

New Delhi [India], Jan 2 : Weeks after opposition parties came down heavily on RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for calling all 130 crore Indians as Hindus, RSS Sah Sarkarwah ((Joint General Secretary) Krishna Gopal on Thursday said that Hindutva was the uniting force behind Bharat adding that it is the reason ensured unity in India while nations like Pakistan, USSR and Yugoslavia broke down into smaller countries.

Speaking at the book launch of J Nandagopal's 'Hindutva for changing times', the RSS leader said, "Pakistan was divided and two nations were built. It will be divided again and it will be separated into three nations."

"USSR, Yugoslavia, etc were also divided but more than 500 princely states were united (in India). This fundamental duty and spirituality that generates the feelings of oneness, this is called Hindutva," he said.

Gopal said that independence to follow one's faith and ways to follow that faith is Hindutva.

"The independence to the question is Hindutva. Where you won't get independence to question is not Hindutva, where there is no place for curiosity and where one has no right to ask questions. If they say anything against them, it will be blasphemy, that space isn't Hindutva. This is the basic difference between Hindutva and others," Gopal said.

Arguing that oneness proliferates in diversity, he said, "There are people who advocate unity in diversity. This is wrong...There is a tree and its growth is reflected in various branches. This is the 'darshan' of India."

Gopal said that it was not RSS that coined the term Hindutva. Rather it has become a term over thousands of years of acceptance by people of various faiths, he said.

"Where does Hindutva come from you may ask. This is not new but it became more popular in the seventh and eighth century. You would ask why? The reason is that it is for the first time that India was looking at a conqueror that was extremely intolerant. So, diversity in India was in danger," the senior RSS functionary said.

"Guru Nanak Dev differentiated between Hindutva and Turks. He entered India and all Indians came on one platform and over 1,100 years, the term was slowly accepted and shared. This platform became Hindutva. Hindutva isn't RSS' coinage. There were all 'Panths' on one platform and there was another Semitic religion. There was a clear cut division. We cannot define Hindutva from spectacles of Semitic religion," Gopal added.

He asserted that anyone who prays for the well being of others is Hindus irrespective of their faith and religion.

( With inputs from ANI )