Patna, Jan. 12: JDU patriarch Nitish Kumar today used the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda to launch a scathing attack on the Sangh parivar.

Alleging that fundamentalists were in a competition to appropriate Vivekananda and use his name for achieving their political ambitions, Nitish said: 'The great seer (Vivekananda) had drawn a parallel between science and spiritualism. He had spoken about the existence of god in every human being.'

Speaking as the chief guest at a function organised by Rashtra Seva Mission, Nitish said: 'While suggesting that the god lives in every human soul Vivekananda did not say that god lived only among the Hindus.'

Nitish said for Vivekananda, Hinduism stood for compassion, tolerance, service to humanity and respect to all other faiths. Suggesting the youths to take inspiration from Vivekananda, he said: 'Vivekananda had inspired the world by delivering his discourse at the world religion conference in America at a very young age.'

The former chief minister said the people should be fully aware that Swamiji was a strong opponent to all forms of fundamentalism and fanaticism. 'He deliberated on the religion in a scientific and rational fashion,' Nitish said, adding that he had made the world understand what Hinduism was all about. 'We should practice Hinduism in the manner Vivekananda taught us,' he said.

Without referring to the Sangh parivar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Nitish pointed out how some ' kattarvadi (fundamentalist) elements were using Lord Ganesha for political gains. He was, apparently, referring to the Prime Minister's recent remarks that Lord Ganesha got elephant head through plastic surgery.

Nitish was accompanied by several ministers in the Jitan Ram Manjhi government, including water resources minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, co-operative minister Jaikumar Singh and Vinod Prasad Yadav. State JDU chief Bashishtha Narayan Singh and party spokesperson Neeraj Kumar were also in attendance on the dais.