Ahead of the state elections of UP and Gujarat, BJP is gearing up to dominate Congress by accusing it of using the “communal politics” card to win the polls. The very vocal Madhya Pradesh minister Narottam Mishra came into the limelight for his controversial comments yet again over the same matter.
The minister downgraded a book written by Congress leader Salman Khurshid on the events that followed in and around Ayodhya. He stressed on two sentences from it where Mr Khurshid compared “Hindutva” with radical Islamist terror groups, claiming that the “Supreme Court said ‘Hindutva’ is a way of life”.
He further accused the author of the book in question ‘Sunrise Over Ayodhya: Nationhood in Our Times’ of “dividing Hindus into castes or divide our country”.
Calling it “condemnable”, Mr Mishra slammed the book and said, “Salman Khurshid’s book is condemnable. They don’t leave an opportunity to divide Hindus into castes or to divide our county… Was Rahul Gandhi not the first to go to those who said ‘Bharat tere tukde honge’? Salman Khurshid is working on the same agenda.”
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In his statement given to the press, Mr Mishra was referring to Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar and the rally he was a part of 5 years back. He was a student of JNU, Delhi at the time where allegedly the slogan was raised.
Quoting former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, he said, “What Kamal Nath said – ‘it’s not ‘mahan Bharat but badnam Bharat (not a great country but an infamous one)’. This is a part of the same thought process. They just want Hindus to get divided. It is a way to attack our faith. The Supreme Court said ‘Hindutva’ is a way of life… then what’s there to question?”
Controversies over Salman Khurshid’s new book do not seem to die, more so as the elections approach for the Chief Minister’s seat in 7 states- two of which are vital for BJP. The party is hence is leaving no stone unturned in grabbing opportunities to pull Congress down. BJP says Congress is bringing the religious picture to get the votes of Muslims.
Defending his statements in the book, Mr Khurshid said, “I have not called these guys terrorists, I have just said they are similar in distorting religion.” His colleague, Ghulam Nabi Azad, had also raised questions on it.
The clarification did not seem to go well with Mr Mishra as he remains adamant to get it “banned” after consulting legal experts in Madhya Pradesh.
This isn’t the first time when the minister attacked a commodity or business. Earlier, he deemed designer Sabyasachi’s jewellery collection, an ad by Dabur and another by Fabindia “objectionable” as these did not align with his perspective.
The sets of a web series directed by Bollywood filmmaker Prakash Jha, ‘Ashram’, was attacked in October, thrashing the place. Mr Mishra was also about to defend this violence, which also saw the active participation of a Bajrang Dal leader who has murder charges on him.
