New Delhi: Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said that children of Jammu and Kashmir are nationalists, but they are sometimes being motivated in the wrong direction. Singh's remark comes days after the newly appointed Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat had claimed that boys and girls, as young as 10 and 12, were being radicalised in Kashmir, adding that it was a matter of concern.

“The kids of Jammu Kashmir are nationalists. They shouldn’t be seen in any other way. Youngsters are youngsters only. Sometimes, the way they should be motivated, people do not motivate them. In fact, they are motivated in the wrong direction,” news agency PTI quoted Singh as saying.

“That is why the kids should not be blamed for this. The ones who are wrongly motivating them should be blamed. The ones who are motivating them in the wrong direction are the culprits,” he added. The senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader was speaking at the NCC Republic Day Camp in the national capital.


Further in his speech, Singh also took a pod shot at Pakistan saying that Indian values consider all religions equal, and that is why the country is secular and never became a theocratic state like Pakistan.

"We (India) said we would not discriminate among religions. Why did we do that? Our neighbouring country has declared that their state has a religion. They have declared themselves a theocratic state. We didn't declare so," the minister said.

"Even America is a theocratic country. India is not a theocratic country. Why? Because our saints and seers did not just consider the people living within our borders as part of the family, but called everyone living in the world as one family," he said.

Singh also underlined that India had never declared its religion would be Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist and people of all religions could live here. "They gave the slogan of 'Vasudev Kutumbakam' -- the whole world is one family. This message has gone to the whole world from here only," he added.