New Delhi: Salman Khurshid, the ex Indian minister and senior Congress leader, has stood firm on his stand on Ayodhya even after Hindutva extremists attacked and torched a portion of his home at Nainital in the Indian state of Uttarakhand.
The right-wing Hindus are up in arm against Khurshid’s latest book ‘Sunrise Over Ayodhya’ in which he has criticized the Hindutva ideology.
In an interview to a news channel, Khurshid said those who disagree with him have proved him right as they “have gone to the extent of burning down the front door of my house in Nainital”.
“The validity of my statement is apparent now by what they have done. Not simply linguistically abusing on the phone and social media but actually physically attacking one’s home,” he said.
Khurshid put out visuals on Facebook which showed a charred door, flames, broken window of home in the scenic town in Uttarakhand. Two men putting water to douse the flames can also be seen in the video.
Another video that surfaced on social media shows the goons assembled outside the house and shouting slogans like ‘Jai Shri Ram’, ‘Jai Bajarangi’ and ‘Desh ke Gaddaaron ko, goli maaro salon ko’.
When questioned why he was “damning” Hindutva which even the Supreme Court called a way of life, the senior Congress leader retorted: “Shall I just surrender to Hindutva, someone who misuses religion?”
He boasted about the “clear, categorical, ideological” stand of his party leadership on the dichotomy of Hindutva and Hinduism which “are two different things and that’s why they have two different names. One believes in killing innocent people, the other believes in composite culture.”
Amidst the raging debate, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that the ideology of his party is like a “beautiful jewel” while “BJP-RSS has spread hatred in today’s India.” The former party president said that the party’s ideology is vibrant but overshadowed by BJP “because of complete capture of the media and complete capture of the Indian nation”. Web Desk
