Bhaiyyaji Joshi said India never considered Pakistan to be its enemy

Both Pakistan and China consider India as their enemy, senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh functionary Bhaiyyaji Joshi said today while speaking at an event on national security. The other nation that shares border with India, Bangladesh, has resorted to "passive attack" through infiltration, he added. A huge amount of expenditure on defence sector could be saved if these neighbouring countries become India's friend, he said.

"The problem increases several folds when our bordering states look at us as an enemy. India has never considered Pakistan as its enemy while Pakistan has always considered India as its enemy," Mr Joshi was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Similarly, India has never considered China as our enemy, "but China always behaved with us in such a manner that it appears that it stands in front of us as our enemy," ANI quoted him as saying.

Without mentioning any particular instance, Mr Joshi further said: "We may not have had a war with Bangladesh, but there is a kind of passive attack through infiltration. I am not saying that Bangladesh government is doing this but it is a fact that the government there doesn't worry about it at all".

Mr Joshi's remarks come in the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's foreign policy push, in which New Delhi has made special efforts to take forward the diplomatic and trade ties with China and Bangladesh.

This year, PM Modi had visited China twice. During one, he had a two-day "informal summit" with China's President Xi Jinping. India described it as a "reset" of the ties after the 70-day military standoff at the border in Arunachal Pradesh, which built up the tension between the neighbours to its highest in decades.

"During the past few years, we have seen the golden chapter of the relations between India and Bangladesh," PM Modi had said in May at the opening of Bangladesh Bhavan in Bengal.

Citing the Land Boundary Agreement and resolution of the sea border dispute, he said "Complex bilateral issues, which seemed impossible even some time back, have been solved now."

The tension with Pakistan has continued, fueled by multiple terror attacks in Indian cities and instances of cross-border firing from Pakistan. In her address to the United Nations General Assembly in September, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had said: "Pakistan glorifies killers, refuses to see the blood of innocents, and then throws the dust of deceit on India to cover its own guilt."

The RSS, the BJP's ideological mentor, has always maintained that the nation's security is under threat due to unfriendly neighbours. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had earlier said this was affecting the nation's growth.

"In budget, we have to spend a huge amount on our Army. If these countries become our friend then that amount could have been saved and invested in development," Mr Joshi was quoted as saying today by news agency ANI.

(With ANI inputs)