Bhopal: RSS Sarsangchalak Mohan Bhagwat has sought to distance himself from the patriotism brigade and said no one has the right to judge the patriotism of others, not even those who think they are running the country.

"Doosron ki deshbhakti naapne ka adhikaar kisi ko bhi nahi. Koi apne aapko desh ka karta dharta kuch bhi maane, to bhi kisi ki deshbhakti naap nahi sakta aur naap kar bol nahi sakta (Nobody has the right to judge anyone else's patriotism. Even those who may feel they are running the show in this country, cannot measure anyone else's patriotism and pass judgements)".

Speaking here at a book launch, Bhagwat said patriotism doesn't have an existence of its own. "For it we may mortally perish or just not exist. Patriotism doesn't have an ego of its own," he said.

The statement comes just days after another controversial remark by the RSS chief at Viraat Hindu Sammelan at Baitul in MP earlier this week. At this event, Bhagwat had said that every person born in India is a Hindu.

While praising the book, 'Bharat ki khoj mein mere paanch saal' [My five years of discovering India) - written by a local journalist Vijay Manohar Tiwari, Bhagwat said that everyone should work with honesty but give a little extra that the country demands today.

"Also, journalists should work without bias and place the truth, founded on facts, before the society," he said.

The views of RSS sarsanghchalak come across as starkly different to those of many rabble-rousers within the Sangh Parivar. The Opposition has time and again accused the ruling BJP-regime at Centre of attempting to tie the nationalist plank around itself, and connect all decisions made by the government to patriotism.