India's Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Monday called on Muslim leaders in India to take a firm stand against fundamentalism and extremism.

“Islam came to Bharat with invaders. This is a historical fact, and it is necessary for this to be stated as such. Sensible leaders of the Muslim community must oppose extremism. They will need to speak up firmly against fanatics. This work will need long-term effort and patience. It will be a long and tough test for all of us. The sooner we start this effort, the less damage it will cause to our society,” Bhagwat said.

His remarks came at a meeting organised in the city by a Pune-based organisation called Global Strategic Policy Foundation. The audience comprised mainly of Kashmiri students, retired defence officials and RSS members, The Indian Express said. RSS is the ideological torchbearer of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Most BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, began their political careers as members of the Hindu nationalist RSS.

The meeting took place amid a debate in the country, including within the Muslim community, on how Indian Muslims should respond to the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. Poet and song-writer Javed Akhtar’s remarks last week drawing parallels between the RSS and Taliban have triggered a controversy, with a local BJP leader in Mumbai demanding that he apologise.

The theme of the meeting was ‘Nation First, Nation Above All’. One of the speakers at the meeting, Chancellor of Central University in Kashmir, Lt Gen (retd) Syed Ata Hasnain, told The Indian Express that the meeting had been planned quite a while ago, but had become topical in the light of the developments in Afghanistan.

“Hindus and Muslims in India share the same ancestry. In our view, the word Hindu means motherland, and the culture that we have inherited from ancient times. The term Hindu… denotes every person irrespective of their language, community or religion. Everyone is a Hindu, and it is in this context that we see every Indian citizen as a Hindu…” Bhagwat said reiterating a theme that he speaks about often.

“People keep talking about Hindu-Muslim unity. What is there to discuss when both are already united? The only difference is in their identities. Muslims have lived here for centuries and they cannot be thrown into the sea,” he said at the conference on National Integration and Communal Harmony, according to The Times of India.