Mangaluru: Akhila Bharath Hindu Mahasabha National President Prakash Kaushik has claimed that it was the fear of the Hindu Mahasabha that drove the British out of India.

Addressing a news conference on Monday in Mangaluru, Kaushik said that over 72,000 members of the Mahasabha had laid down their lives during the freedom struggle while 64,000 were imprisoned.

“It was the extremists like the Mahasabha members who played vital role in independence and not the soft-natured moderates,” he said.

National Vice-President Dr Rajesh Ranjan said that though the sole objective of the Mahasabha is the formation of a ‘Hindu Rashtra’, it is not for chasing away people from other religions.

“We want to protect the ancient Hindu culture,” he said.

New state president of the sabha Ambika Nayak, state vice president Shree Shravan Kumar, district president Naveen Kumar, vice president Chetan Mallya, secretary NP Shenoy among others were present.