'Pathological hatred': BJP roasts Rahul Gandhi on blatant claims about Hindutva

New Delhi, Nov 13: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi maintained that Hinduism and Hindutva are "different things" and blatantly spoke on the ideology of Hindutva being about hatred in India. This drew a sharp reactions from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sambit Patra who stated that the Congress leadership dwells a "pathological hatred" for Hinduism.

 

Patra added that it was at the behest of senior party MP Rahul Gandhi that other veterans like Salman Khurshid, Shashi Tharoor and P Chidambaram targeted the religion. He said the former Congress president had a history of making critical comments about Hinduism and its culture. “It is in the character of the Congress and the Gandhi family to attack Hinduism at every opportunity,” he said.

 

The BJP leader further said that Congress leaders could use terms like ‘Hindu Pakistan’, ‘Hindu Taliban’ and ‘saffron terror’ only at the behest of Gandhi, whom he called the headmaster of the experimental lab. "What they say is not a coincidence but an experiment. And the headmaster of this experimental lab is Rahul Gandhi.... There is a pathological hatred for Hinduism among Congress leaders, and they get traction for this from the Gandhi family," he said.

 

 

On Gandhi differentiating between ‘Hinduism’ and ‘Hindutva’, Patra said, "Can they talk on similar lines about other religions…of course not. They cannot talk of similar issues in any other religion. The question is why do they talk ill of Hinduism all the time," he added. He also referred to a comment made public as part of WikiLeaks in which Gandhi reportedly told the then US Ambassador that extremist Hindu ideology was a bigger threat than Lashkar-e-Toiba.

 

 

“Is Hinduism about beating a Sikh or a Muslim? Hindutva of course is. But is Hinduism about killing Akhlaq? In which book is this written? I have not seen it. I have read the Upanishads. I have not seen it. Where is it written that you should kill an innocent man? I am unable to find this. In Hindu scripture, in Islamic scripture, in Sikh scripture. I can see it in Hindutva,” Gandhi had earlier said.

 

 

“What is the difference between Hinduism as we know it and Hindutva. Are they the same thing. Can they be the same thing. If they are the same thing, why don’t they have the same name. Why do they have a different name. Why do you use the word Hinduism, why not just use Hindutva if they are the same thing.They are obviously different things”.

 

 

The remarks by Gandhi came a day after senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid sparked a row by comparing Hindutva to the jihadist Islam of terror groups such as the ISIS and Boko Haram. Khurshid, who stood by his remarks made in his new book on Ayodhya verdict, had come under attack on Thursday from the BJP as well as his party colleague Ghulam Nabi Azad.