Hindutva is country’s identity, says Kalraj

LUCKNOW: After RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Union minister for minority affairs Najma Heptullah, it was the turn of another Union minister Kalraj Misra to define Hindutva. On a day-long visit to Lucknow after launching Pradhanmantri Jandhan Yojana in Varanasi on Thursday, Kalraj said: “Hindutva is the country's identity.”
“It is neither communal nor a narrow-minded thought,” he further said and added that it is very vast and a way of life.” Hindutva should not be taken as a caste or community and nor should there be any hue and cry over the issue, the minister said.“Why only me, even Supreme Court has in its judgment said that Hindutva is a way of life and that it is more than 2,500 years old,” he further said.
Adding to it, the Mishra also endorsed Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath's view that ‘love jihad’ would be an issue in the by election and said that discussions should certainly be held on all the issues. “Whatever Yogiji has said is fine. There should a discussion on all burning issues related to the society,” Kalraj told TOI.
Discussion on controversial ‘love jihad’ has hotted up after state BJP in a recently concluded state working committee meeting had talked about the issue, though the party refrained from mentioning it in its political resolution. In the same way, Hindutva has become a topic of discussion after it was raked up by RSS chief and then Heptullah.
Bhagwat had said that all Indians should be called as Hindus as they live in Hindustan. When people living in other countries are identified by their country why can't those living in Hindustan be called Hindustani, he had said.
Endorsing his statement, the only Muslim minister in Modi cabinet, Najma Heptullah, said on Thursday that there was nothing wrong in calling Indians Hindus.