No religion for purpose of statecraft: Parrikar

Panaji, June 13 (IANS) BJP leader and Goa Chief minister Manohar Parrikar Wednesday said he did not subscribe to "extremist views" and that he does not rely on religion for statecraft.

Parrikar, who single-handedly scripted the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) victory in the recently held Goa assembly polls was responding to questions from media persons, who wanted his reaction to some statements of the chief of a controversial Hindu group Sri Ram Sene (SRS), known for its campaign against the influence of western culture.

SRS chief Pramod Muthalik had said that he would get the inauguration of the Goa branch of the SRS done at the hands of the chief minister.

"I do not subscribe to extremist views. I am proud of my religion and so is the other person. Religion is for my personal thing only. I do not need religion for state work," Parrikar said.

Muthalik who is attending a conference of right wing Hindu organisations in Panaji had said earlier this week that he planned to start a unit of the SRS in Goa to campaign against the influence of western culture in the state.

Muthalik's SRS gained notoriety after the group in 2009 stormed a pub in Mangalore and assaulted its guests, including women for "patronising' western culture.