On a quote from Gandhi

The Pakistani duo of Aisha Fayyazi Sarwari and Yasser Latif Hamdani are of the apparent opinion that sufficient repetition can turn anything into fact. An instance is the quote they attribute to Mahatma Gandhi:

'I am a Hindu first and hence a true Indian'

More accurately, the quote is

There is undoubtedly a sense in which the statement is true when I say that I hold my religion dearer than my country and that, therefore, I am a Hindu first and nationalist after. I do not become on that score a less nationalist than the best of them. I simply thereby imply that the interests of my country are identical with those of my religion.

What is the nature of his religion and his nationalism?

I can neither serve God nor humanity if as an Indian I do not serve India, and as a Hindu I do not serve the Indian Mussalmans. 

To understand the crusade against Mahatma Gandhi, one has to understand that he is a bulwark of modern Indian secular democracy. Those who would destroy it must diminish Gandhi. This is as true of the rabid Hindu rightwingers in India as it is of Pakistanis.