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‘You must call me a Hindu’: Kerala governor Arif Mohammed Khan
Arif Mohammed Khan said it was "perfectly fine" to use terminologies like Hindu, Muslim and Sikh during the colonial era because the Britishers had made the communities the basis for deciding even the ordinary rights of citizens.
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Saturday said that Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, a reformer-educationalist and founder of the Aligarh Muslim University, once urged to be called a Hindu. At an event organised by Kerala Hindus of North America (KHNA) in Thiruvananthapuram, the Governor remembered the renowned philosopher as saying that "you must call me a Hindu" during an Arya Samaj meeting.
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"But, my serious complaint against you (Arya Samaj members) is that why don't you call me a Hindu? I do not consider Hindu as a religious term...Hindu is a geographical term," the Governor said while remembering Syed Ahmed Khan's words, news agency PTI reported.
Anybody who is born in India, anybody who lives on the food which is produced in India, anybody who drinks water from the rivers of India is entitled to call himself a Hindu and so "you must call me a Hindu", the Governor quoted Sir Syed Ahmed Khan as saying. He added that Sir Syed was given a reception by the Samaj members when he completed his tenure in the Legislative Council during the colonial regime.
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Arif Mohammed Khan also said it was "perfectly fine" to use terminologies like Hindu, Muslim and Sikh during the colonial era because the Britishers had made the communities the basis for deciding even the ordinary rights of citizens. Khan, who is often in headlines for conflict with the Kerala government, said that a conspiracy has been going on in the state to make it feel that it is wrong to say "I am a Hindu".
Even before independence, the kings and rulers of the country, who believed in "Sanatana Dharma", had accepted all religious groups with open arms, he stressed.
(With PTI inputs)
