India following middle path, says Mohan Bhagwat

KOLKATA: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said on Wednesday that the history and tradition of India indicated that the country never believed in religious extremism and had been following the middle path which taught us to run the country by uniting the people of different caste, creed and religion emotionally.

"Emotional integration of people is a very important factor for the country like India. Many say ours is a Hindu culture. Some say it is Indian culture and some have opinion that ours is an Aryan culture. Whatever it may be, the basic concept of running the country lies in the fact of emotional integration of its people," the RSS chief told a gathering here organised by the Ram Sharad Kothari memorial committee. This was Bhagwat's first deliberation after BJP's electoral debacle in Bihar.

Without naming any terrorist groups, Bhagwat, however said that "attacks were made on Somnath temple again and again. Attacks were also made on the twin towers. But the sole intention of those who organised such attacks was to hurt the sentiment and pride of a nation. I am not talking about ISI, but against such forces whose sole intention is to hurt the sentiment and pride of several nations and their civilisation This can not be tolerated."

Comparing those forces which mastermind such attacks with Ravana, the RSS chief also said evil forces could not last long and history taught us that such forces could not run any country. Tripura governor Tathagata Roy also attended the meeting which was organised to remember those from Kolkata who had sacrificed their lives for the cause of Ram Mandir construction at Ayodhya.