New Delhi, Dec 31: Disagreeing with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Goa musings, VHP today asserted no Hindu can be "narrow, rigid and extremist" even as the RSS reminded him of his own poetic description of a real Hindu as one who wages relentless war against the evil. "Opposing" Vajpayee's reference to hardline Hindutva, senior VHP vice-president Acharya Giriraj Kishore said, "No Hindu can ever be narrow, rigid and extremist. Hindutva is the main current of the country and the country is fast realising its strength. Those who say Hindutva cannot be the basis of progress are mistaken," he said.

Defending VHP's aggressive Hindutva, he said on phone from Pune, "We also believe that every action has a reaction."

Meanwhile, RSS joint spokesman Ram Madhav said, "It is not out of place to remind Vajpayee of his own poem 'Hindu tan man, Hindu jeevan' which described the real Hindu as the one who wages relentless war against evil.
"Those who are being wrongly portrayed (by media and others) as proponents of extreme Hindutva are in fact the followers of the spirit which was enunciated in that poem," he said.

He, however, said that Vajpayee's views on Hindutva have always been "thought provoking and inward looking.”

Bureau Report