People In Pakistan Unhappy, Believe Partition "Was A Mistake": RSS Chief

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Friday said people of Pakistan were not happy after more than seven decades of Independence and they now believe the partition of India was a mistake.

He was speaking at a function to mark the birth anniversary of teen revolutionary Hemu Kalani, which was attended by Sindhis from different parts of the country.

"It was Bharat before 1947 (Partition). Those who broke off from Bharat, are they happy still? There is pain out there," Bhagwat said in an apparent reference to Pakistan.

However, in a reference to the acrimonious relationship the two nations have now, Mr Bhagwat underscored the fact that India did not belong to a culture that calls for attacks on others.

"I do not mean to say Bharat should attack Pakistan. Not at all. We don't belong to that culture that calls for attack on others," he said.

"We are from the culture that gives a befitting reply in self-defence," Mr Bhagwat said apparently referring to the surgical strikes on terror camps in that country, adding "we do it and we will keep doing it".

"People of Pakistan are now saying the division of Bharat was a mistake. All are saying it was a mistake," Mr Bhagwat asserted.

Hailing the Sindhi community, most of who arrived here during Partition, Mr Bhagwat said they had come "from that Bharat to this Bharat for the sake of your rich Sindhu culture and values".

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)