Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Wednesday said that every person living in India was a Hindu, including Muslims, who were “Hindu by nationality but Muslim by faith”. At a Hindu Sammelan in Madhya Pradesh’s Betul, Bhagwat said that Indian society was known across the world as a Hindu society and that all Indians were “one entity”, The Indian Express reported.

India is the “only country” for Hindus and Hindus will be held accountable if something happens to the country, Bhagwat said. “If we do not get united and do not help others, some evil forces will exploit the poor and those who lack education and health,” the RSS leader said. “Diversity in life is beautiful, but it should also have unity,” he added, according to PTI.

Bhagwat’s remarks came after he visited the jail in Betul where RSS leader MS Golwalkar was kept for three months in 1948, when the organisation was banned following Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. However, Opposition parties including the Congress criticised the visit, calling it a violation of the jail manual. The parties asked how Bhagwat and other RSS officials could visit the jail despite not holding any government posts.