Congress leader Salman Khurshid faced backlash on Thursday for comparing Hindutva with Islamic terror outfits, with two Delhi lawyers filing police complaints against the senior politician, accusing him of defaming Hindutva. The BJP claimed that Khurshid did this at the behest of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
"Sanatan Dharma and classical Hinduism known to sages and saints were being pushed aside by a robust version of Hindutva, by all standards a political version similar to the jihadist Islam of groups like ISIS and Boko Haram of recent years," a passage in Khurshid's book 'Sunrise Over Ayodhya: Nationhood in Our Times' reads.
The book was launched on Wednesday.
Tweeting a picture of the text, BJP's IT cell chief Amit Malviya said, "Congress’s Salman Khurshid in his new book writes that Hindutva is similar to the jihadist Islamist groups like ISIS and Biko Haram. What else can we expect from someone whose party coined the term Saffron terror just to draw equivalence with Islamic jihad, to get Muslim votes?"
BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia alleged that the Congress is "weaving a web" against Hindus. "All this happens at the behest of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Earlier, the term 'Hindu terrorism' was invented in the Congress office" NDTV quoted him as saying.
Bhatia demanded Khurshid's ouster from the party and said if Sonia Gandhi remains silent over the issue, "it will be clear that your ideology is also against Hindus".
Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi too criticised Khurshid, saying it "is an attempt to demonise Hindu religion that has only spoken of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam."
"Half baked information can get you book publicity but unnecessary consequences of hurting sentiments of millions of Hindus. Shame," she said in a tweet.
Two lawyers—Vivek Garg and Vineet Jindal—filed a police complaint over the book and sought action against Khurshid.
"The language, intention of the said book authored by the alleged accused, is an open case of sedition, conspiracy to wage the war against India, promoting enmity between Hindus-Muslims, etc," the complaint by Garg read, while Jindal said in his complaint that, "It is a quite aggravating and defamatory statement for the whole Hindu community and also questions their values and virtues about society," reported Hindustan Times.
