The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Wednesday said the Pahalgam killings had shown “terror has a religion” and urged the government to respond with force against “Islamic Jihadi Pakistani”, stressing that the targetted attack on Hindus was “Pakistan’s open declaration of war against Bharat”.

The strong remarks by VHP joint general secretary Surendra Jain followed an RSS statement on the carnage that earned flak from the saffron ecosystem for not terming it an “attack on Hindus”.

“The heinous act of terror attack on tourists in Pahalgam of Jammu & Kashmir is highly condemnable and heart-wrenching. We pay homage to the deceased and pray for the early recovery of the injured in this attack,” RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale had said.

The statement put out on Tuesday night on the RSS’s X handle was slammed by several users for avoiding a clear reference to an “attack on Hindus”.

“They were Hindu tourists and not just tourists,” a user claiming to be a “proud Hindu” said in reply to the post.

“Which tourists are these RSS ji? Are you ashamed of calling them Hindus?” another asked.

The VHP, a wing of the Sangh, later came out with a strong Hindutva line. “The manner in which the tourists were massacred in Pahalgam and were asked to remove their trousers, show their ID and read the Kalma to confirm that they were not Muslims is highly condemnable,” Jain said, announcing a nationwide protest on Friday.