Hindutva and Hinduism are two different concepts, says Rahul Gandhi amid Khurshid row; BJP hits back

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 12

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday maintained that Hinduism and Hindutva are “different things” and slammed the ideology of the BJP-RSS alleging it has spread hatred in India, drawing a sharp retort from the BJP which claimed that the Congress leadership nurses a “pathological hatred” for Hinduism.

Observing that his party’s ideology is alive and vibrant and is like a “beautiful jewel” with an unending power inside it, but it has been overshadowed by the BJP, Gandhi also said in today’s India, ideological fight has become very important.

“Is Hinduism about beating a Sikh, or a Muslim. Hindutva, of course, is. In which book is it written? I have not seen it. I have read the Upanishads. I have not read it,” Gandhi said, as he sought to draw a distinction between Hinduism and Hindutva, a term widely used by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS).

“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 that escalated the political heat between the BJP and the Congress ahead of the assembly polls in five states including Uttar Pradesh came a day after senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid sparked a row by comparing a “robust version” of 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.

Gandhi said that if crystallized, the Congress ideology will envelope that of the BJP-RSS, and emphasised on strengthening his party’s ideas within the organisation and spreading them across the country.

Gandhi was addressing online a four-day ‘AICC orientation programme’ organised at Sevagram Ashram in Wardha in Maharashtra. Congress representatives from across the states are participating in the event.

“We have to accept that there are two ideologies in India – the Congress ideology and the RSS ideology. We have to accept the BJP-RSS has spread hatred in today’s India.”

“The BJP has overshadowed the loving, affectionate and nationalistic ideology of the Congress party. Our ideology is alive and vibrant, but it has been overshadowed by the BJP,” said the Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad in Kerala.

“It has been overshadowed partly because of complete capture of the media and complete capture of the Indian nation. It has also been overshadowed as we have not propagated our ideology among our own people aggressively.”

BJP hits back at Rahul

Meanwhile, the BJP hit back at Rahul over ‘Hindutva’ remarks calling him “anti-Hindu”. Rahul and the Congress have a “pathological hatred” of Hinduism, alleged BJP’s Sambit Patra amid a row over Salman Khurshid’s book on Ayodhya. The party also slammed Rahsid Alvi over his remarks, recounting all Congress leaders talking “ill” of the community.

Patra said Gandhi had a history of criticising ‘Hinduism’ and its culture, and that it was in the Congress’ “character to attack Hindus and spread hate in the society”. “It is in the character of the Congress and the Gandhi family to attack Hinduism at every opportunity. What they say is not a coincidence but an experiment, and the headmaster of this experimental lab is Rahul Gandhi,” he claimed.

“There is a pathological hatred for Hinduism among Congress leaders… and they get traction for this from the Gandhi family,” he alleged.

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 said, citing terms like “saffron terror”  used by senior leaders on “directions” of Rahul Gandhi.

Patra 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. —with PTI