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Hindus doing politics in name of Hindutva are fake: Gehlot on Dharma Sansad hate speech
Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot said while he had utmost respect for saints, some of the words uttered by saffron-clad men at the Dharma Sansad were “shameful and condemnable.”
Rajasthan chief minister and Congress leader Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday said Hindus who do politics in the name of Hindutva are “fake". His statement was in reference to a Dharma Sansad event held in Uttarakhand wherein speeches inciting violence against Muslims were allegedly made by participants.
Stating that former Congress president Rahul Gandhi began the debate on “Hindu versus Hindutva”, Gehlot said there is a need for the country to understand the crux of the matter.
“The crux was that on one hand, there is a Hindu whose great values have been there for centuries, whose expressions are of love and brotherhood, and the forces that are indulging in politics in the name of Hindutva, their becoming Hindu is pseudo, they are fake Hindus,” the Rajasthan chief minister was quoted as saying by PTI.
Terming the language used during the Dharma Sansad as “shameful”, Gehlot said while he respects saints and that their “saffron clothes” give the message of Indian culture and sacrifice, the words spoken by some of them were “condemnable.”
Also Read | Pakistan foreign ministry summons Indian diplomat over Dharma Sansad speeches
Gehlot further said the Congress rules the heart of every Indian and people who talk of “Congress-mukt (free) Bharat” will themselves become “mukt”. He said India is going through a difficult phase and during such a time, the nation needs the ideology, policy and programmes of the grand old party.
Meanwhile, three people have been named as accused in the ongoing probe into the Dharma Sansad case. The case was initially lodged on Thursday night after videos of the three-day event in Haridwar conducted between December 17 and 19, led to an enormous uproar on social media.
Uttarakhand director general of police Ashok Kumar has promised legal action against the accused, and said that such events and hate speeches “won't be tolerated” in the state.
