RSS CHIEF Mohan Bhagwat has controversially commented that “Everyone in India is a Hindu.”  The comment has created a lot of furore, even as Bhagwat claims that the contex in which he said this, has been mutilated.

 

In a lecture on Hindutva, given by him at the Sardar Patel Institute of Public Administration, Bhagwat had claimed that “There is no need to define Hindutva as it can be described in different ways. The exact definition may lead to confusion. In the same way, the word Hindu can have many workable definitions. While it is a way of life, it is also a religion. Indians have not coined the word Hindu. There are no references to it in the scriptures. People identified us as Hindus and now the word has become our identity. ”

 

He rejected any monopoly on the definitional claim over the word "Hindu". "Hindutva cannot be classified as Swami Vivekananda's Hindutva, RSS' Hindutva, VHP's Hindutva. It is one and it is not anybody's brand or monopoly. The continuous discovery of the truth is known as Hindutva."

 

He has clarified that he made the controversial comment, trying to point out that the protests against Muslims and Christians was not a part of Hindutva, as the latter is a non-violent religion.

 

At the function organised by the Bharatiya Vichar Manch, the RSS Chief also addressed the issue of emancipation of women in India, and more detailed focus on the family as an important unit of the Indian society.