India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ram Madhav has said he believes India, Pakistan and Bangladesh will reunite to form "Akhand Bharat" [undivided India].
The national general secretary of BJP made the remarks in an interview with Al Jazeera's Head to Head show on Thursday.
"The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) still believes that one day these parts, which have for historical reasons separated only 60 years ago, will again, through popular goodwill, come together and Akhand Bharat will be created," Madhav said.
RSS is the right-wing Hindu nationalist organisation often described as the ideological wing of the BJP.
"As an RSS member, I also hold on to that view," Madhav told the programme host Mehdi Hassan.
He, however, clarified his view saying: "That does not mean we wage war on any country, [or that] we annex any country. Without war, through popular consent, it can happen."
Responding to a statement made earlier this year, in which he said India was "a Hindu country", Madhav explained: "It's a land where a particular way of life, a particular culture or civilisation, is practised.
"We call it Hindu - do you have any objection? India has one culture. We are one culture, one people, one nation."
When asked why a number of writers and intellectuals have returned their awards protesting the BJP government in recent months, Madhav replied they were doing so "to defame the government and in turn to defame the image of India,” and that their method of protest was “wrong".
Madhav, who is in charge of the BJP's "Jammu & Kashmir affairs" also responded on how to bring peace to the region.
"The only outstanding issue with regard to the Kashmir problem is the Kashmir under Pakistan occupation," he said.
He assured the audience that "political demands in Kashmir will be taken care of", although with the caveat: "short of separating from India".
