The Union minister also endorsed Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath's view that "love jihad" would be an issue in the UP byelection and said that discussions should certainly be held on all the issues.
"Whatever Yogi ji has said is fine. There should a discussion on all burning issues related to the society," Kalraj told TOI.
READ ALSO: Yogi Adityanath: 'Love jihad' will be a bypoll issue in UP
Discussion on controversial "love jihad" has heated up after state BJP in a recently concluded state working committee meeting had talked about the issue, though the party refrained from mentioning it in its political resolution.
In the same way, Hindutva has become a topic of discussion after it was raked up by the RSS chief and then Union minister for minorities Najma Heptulla.
On day-long visit to Lucknow after launching Pradhanmantri Jandhan Yojna in Varanasi on Thursday, Kalraj said that Hindutva is the country's identity.
"It is neither communal nor a narrow-minded thought ... it is very vast and a way of life, the Union minister told TOI.
"Hindutva should not be taken as a caste or community and neither should there be any hue and cry over the issue," the minister said. "Why only me, even Supreme Court has in its judgment said that Hindutva is a way of life and that it is more than 2,500 years old," he further said.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had said that all Indians should be called Hindus as they live in Hindustan. "When people living in other countries are identified by their country why can't those living in Hindustan be called Hindus," he had said.
Najma Heptulla, the only Muslim minister in Modi's cabinet, endorsing Bhagwat's statement said on Thursday that there was nothing wrong in calling Indians 'Hindus'.
On Friday Najma Heptulla clarified that she used the word 'Hindi' for all citizens and not 'Hindu' that a media report quoted her as saying.
Her comments came on the day a media report quoted her saying that "there is nothing wrong with the term Hindu being applied equally for all citizens as a label of national identity".
"We are Indians, that's our nationality. I used the word Hindi. It's an Arabic word. They call all Indians Hindi. I didn't say Hindu. I used the word Hindi," Heptulla told reporters at her residence.
She reiterated that she had said earlier also that people who go to the Arabic countries from India are known as Hindi.
"If they go to Iran they are known as Hindustani. That is our nationality and identity... The word is 'Hindi'," she said.
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