Call India Bharat only, says RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale

New Delhi, Mar 11 (PTI) Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale has pitched for calling India 'Bharat' only, saying questions should be raised on why the country should have two names, one in Hindi and another in English.

His remarks came at a book launch event in Noida on Monday.

"It is India in English and Bharat in Hindi. Can this happen anywhere else in the world?" he asked.

Hosabale noted that the Constitution of India is called 'Bharat ka samvidhan' in Hindi and the Reserve Bank of India is also called Bharatiya Reserve Bank.

"Why do we have to do this everywhere?" he asked.

"Questions should be raised. This has to be corrected. When the country's name is Bharat, then call it Bharat only," he added.

Quoting noted philosopher and yogi Aurobindo Ghosh who had also participated in India's freedom struggle, the RSS general secretary said the 'maharishi' had said India would not rise just for its selfish interest or to bully and trample others but to become a "lighthouse of the world".

"This is India's goal. But to achieve it, India needs to become stronger and self-reliant from this point of view. Until society is ready to say that we are such a country and we have come to give some message to the world, all these things will turn out to be empty words," Hosabale said.

"That's why it becomes a special responsibility of all of us to raise such a society. Otherwise, nobody would listen," he added.

Hosabale said everybody should move in the right direction in the system of society, family and other areas. That is why subjects of study are gradually changing in the universities. Only those subjects that provide employment should be taught, he said.

"For nation-building and upliftment of the society, (study of subjects that provide) employment is indeed necessary. But lectures are necessary in the universities for intellectual development, cultural development and civilisational development. Universities exist for this very purpose," he added. PTI PK PK KSS KSS