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Congress veteran Shivraj Patil draws a link between ‘jihad’ and Gita
Shivraj Patil, a former home minister and LS speaker, was addressing the audience at the launch of Congress veteran and former Union minister Mohsina Kidwai's biography that was also attended by party MP Shashi Tharoor, Sushilkumar Shinde and Mani Shankar Aiyar.
Senior Congress and former Union home minister Shivraj Patil on Thursday said that while there is a lot of discussion on 'jihad' (or religious war), the issue finds mention in the Quran as well as the BhagwadGita. He said that Lord Krishna taught lessons of 'jihad' to Arjun in a part of Gita in Mahabharat.
Patil was speaking at the launch of Congress veteran and former Union minister Mohsina Kidwai's biography that was also attended by party MP Shashi Tharoor, Sushilkumar Shinde and Mani Shankar Aiyar.
A video of Patil's speech was shared by news agency ANI. “There's a lot of discussion on Jihad in Islam... Even after all efforts, if someone does not understand clean idea, power can be used, it is mentioned in Quran and Gita... Shri Krishna taught lessons of jihad to Arjun in a part of Gita in Mahabharat,” Patil said.
The former governor and Lok Sabha speaker further said that a similar message is conveyed in the books of Christianity too.
Meanwhile, Tharoor, who lost the party's presidential poll against Mallikarjun Kharge, said he had talked about the election's outcome with outgoing Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and she stated it was not surprising that "people would back one of their own".
Tharoor said he was not disappointed about the result as the election had galvanised party workers.
"No, I am not disappointed because I think it was very clear from the earliest moments of the campaign that the establishment, minus the rare case of a Mohsina Kidwai or a Saifuddin Soz or a few other fellow MPs, was going to rally behind him (Kharge) and that inevitably happened and I have no complaints about that," the Thiruvanthapuram MP said.
