RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said Tuesday the IAF air strike on a terrorist training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed, the group behind the suicide bombing targeting CRPF personnel in Pulwama, inside Pakistan was a tribute to the martyrs of the Feb 14 assault.
He recalled legendary freedom fighter Veer Savarkar's observation that India needs to become powerful because without power, nobody listens.
He was speaking at the felicitation programme of computer scientist Vijay Bhatkar, who was given the Swatantrya Veer Savarkar Gaurav Puraskar.
"We, as a nation, have the right to take the name of Veer Savarkar, because today we have paid a very appropriate 13th-day tribute to the 40 CRPF jawans martyred in Pulwama," he said amid slogans of 'Vande Mataram'.
He was reacting to the pre-dawn air strike by IAF jets on the biggest terrorist camp of Jaish inside Pakistan. The air strike came 12 days after the Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.
Bhagwat said the slogan 'Vande Mataram' was not hollow but it has a lot of power.
"The entire world has seen this today," he said.
"Savarkar's character and work have been very magnificent. He dedicated his life for the country. Savarkar said we need to become powerful because without power, nobody listens," the RSS chief said.
"We do not need power to tell the truth. But the world is not like that... They understand only power. Therefore, if we want to show our spirituality, truth and non-violence to the world, then we need to become 'shastra sampann' (armed) and 'shakti sampann' (powerful)," he said.
"It took us so long to understand this after Independence. This behavioural truth has been very clearly stated by Veer Savarkar," he said.
"If the Hindu community and our country had followed this motto after Independence, then our history would have been very different. Becoming powerful is very important and the Hindu community should be shakti sampann," he said.
"It is a truth that Hindustan is a Hindu Rashtra, but if this truth is to be accepted, the Hindu community should have 'shakti'. Only after this, nobody in the world will dare to stare down Hindus," Bhagwat said.
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