MUMBAI: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has termed the increase in incidents of mob lynching as an insult to Hindu religion and Lord Ram.
Tharoor, who interacted with media at Pune on Sunday, said, “The concept of Hinduism is detrimental for the nation. I’m also a Hindu. it is a religion. But, the ideology of Hindutva is dangerous. Over the past some time there has been a steady increase in instances of mob lynching. This is an insult to the Hindu religion.”
“Is this our Bharat? Is this what Hindu Dharam says? I am a Hindu but not of this kind. Also, while killing people, they are asked to say ‘Jai Sri Ram’. It is an insult to Hindu Dharma. It is an insult to Lord Ram that people are being killed using his name,” Tharoor added.
Earlier on Saturday, while speaking at a session titled ‘Truly Yours’ at the Pune International Literary Festival, the author of the book “Why I Am A Hindu” went on to state that there was “no Hindu way”, though there is “my or his or her” Hindu way.
“India is now a country with just “black or white” as choices and no space in between for tolerance,” Tharoor said and blamed this polarisation of politics on the actions and choices of the “ruling party”.
“There is my Hindu way. There is his or her Hindu way and everyone has their own Hindu way. That’s the magic because Hinduism does not prescribe any rigorous prescriptions. I can worship Ram, I read Hanuman Chalisa, therefore I am a Hindu... but suddenly if someone says I do nothing of these things and I am still a Hindu, then they both are right, and this the BJP and Sangh Parivar have not understood,” Tharoor stated.
On Sunday morning Tharoor delivered a lecture on “Participation of Professionals in Nation Building” at the Congress Bhavan. While interacting with the media after that, Tharoor stated that the Pakistan government has no right to speak about the PoK as 75% residents there are Punjabi.
“However, the way article 370 was abrogated we shall ask questions. The Modi government will have to answer several questions about Kashmir,” Tharoor said.
While making clear his party’s stand, he said, “Whenever the issues comes to international forums, we shall be with the government and won’t let even an inch of the land go to Pakistan. Howver, in the country we are not happy about the state of affairs.”