RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday said a “Hindu Rashtra” was the Sangh’s “eternal thought” and urged Hindu society to unite and make India so strong that it could not be vanquished even by a coalition of multiple powers.

His comments came in an interview with the RSS-affiliated weekly, Organiser, where he flagged the presence of “evil forces on all our borders” and said this was why India had “no option but to be powerful”. Organiser said the interview had been conducted before the Pahalgam massacre and Operation Sindoor.

Bhagwat stressed the idea of “Hindu Rashtra”, saying it remained the “eternal thought” behind every action of the Sangh.

“What is nitya (permanent) in the Sangh? Balasaheb (Deoras, the Sangh’s third chief) once said, ‘Hindustan is a Hindu Rashtra’,” he said.

“Apart from this, everything else in the Sangh is transient. The entire Hindu society is the accountable custodian of this nation. The nature and sanskriti of this country are Hindu. Therefore, this is a Hindu Rashtra.”

On the subject of Hindus facing attacks and exploitation in neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh, Bhagwat said Hindu society needed to unite. “Someone will worry about Hindus only when Hindus are strong enough,” he said.

“As Hindu society and Bharat are intertwined, a glorious nature of Hindu society will bring in glory for Bharat. Only such a strong Hindu society can present a model for taking along the people of Bharat who do not consider themselves Hindus, as at one point they were also Hindus.

“If the Hindu society of Bharat becomes strong, automatically Hindus will gain strength globally. This work is going on, but it is not yet complete.”

Referring to the recent happenings in Bangladesh, he said that Hindus were fighting back, “slowly but surely”.

“This time the way anguish against the atrocities on Hindus in Bangladesh has been expressed, this is unprecedented. Even local Hindus now say: ‘We won’t flee. We’ll stay and fight for our rights’,” Bhagwat said.

Answering a question on the Sangh’s vision for India’s security, military strength and economic power, Bhagwat said: “We must not be dependent on others for national security. We should be able to defend ourselves.

“No one should be able to conquer us — not even if multiple powers come together. There are evil forces in the world who are aggressive by nature.”

Bhagwat said the nature of India’s power should be “for the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked”.

“When no option is available, then wickedness has to be eradicated forcefully.”

Bhagwat had in a statement lauded the government for conducting Operation Sindoor, saying it had “enhanced the country’s self-respect and morale”.

He has, however, been silent on US President Donald Trump’s claim of having mediated the cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan. Insiders said the Sangh was upset at the claim.