Mohan Bhagwat Mohan Bhagwat

On a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke in the Capital against religious intolerance, the party's ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) claimed that the Ram Janmabhoomi issue was of national pride.

Addressing several wings of the RSS, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in Kanpur on Tuesday, outfit chief Mohan Bhagwat spoke extensively about their Ram Janmabhoomi and Sethusamudram (Ram Setu) campaigns and also urged the Hindu society to stay united.

"Ram Janmabhoomi and Sethusamudram are national issues. We can pitch in for more such issues only when all our wings work in close coordination with one another," he said. During the speech, however, Bhagwat didn't forget to remind the saffron brigade the important role the RSS had played during their 2014 parliamentary election victory.

"United, we can do anything. The world knows about the outcome of our Ram Janmabhoomi and Sethusamudram campaigns. Our involvement in the 2014 parliamentary election campaign also brought about the desired results. This could happen only because we were united and working in excellent coordination, " he said.

Rebuking the RSS members for their inaction after the BJP formed the government at the Centre, Bhagwat said, "It is true that the Sangh members worked hard during the parliamentary elections to bring to power a party that can protect Hindutva. But thereafter they slipped into hibernation."

Claiming that the BJP had lost the previous elections due to the alienation of various wings of the RSS, Bhagwat lamented that was not a good sign for the future of the Sangh Parivar. "It is necessary for all of you to work together. The members of all the wings of the RSS are expected to visit each other's offices and attend their programmes. It may be that all our organisations are working for different purposes but the ultimate target is the same," he said.