Controversy over Salman Khurshid’s ‘Hindutva-ISIS' comparison. What we know so far
An injunction suit has been filed before a Delhi court seeking to stop the publication, circulation and sale of Khurshid’s book ‘Sunrise over Ayodhya’
Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid’s new book on Ayodhya has caused quite the stir for drawing a parallel between “Hindutva” and radical Islamist groups. Khurshid has been criticised within the ranks of his own party by senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Harish Rawat, with Azad calling the comparison “factually wrong” and an “exaggeration”.
However, the former Union minister has also received support from his party colleagues, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi stating that Hinduism and Hindutva are "different things" and slammed the ideology of the BJP-RSS alleging it has spread hatred in India.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hit out at Gandhi over his remark, alleging that he and his and his party have a "pathological hatred" of Hinduism.
An injunction suit has been filed before a Delhi court seeking to stop the publication, circulation and sale of Khurshid’s book ‘Sunrise over Ayodhya’ by right-wing group Hindu Sena's president Vishnu Gupta. Gupta claimed in his petition that the launch was timed to polarise minorities ahead of the Uttar Pradesh state assembly election next year.
Khurshid’s house in Nainital’s Ramgarh was allegedly vandalised on Monday and the police have booked 20 people in connection with the incident. Police said a mob of around 20 people from a hardline local Hindu group gathered outside Khurshid's house and "they shouted slogans, threw stones, broke several windows, ransacked (the entry) and set fire (to a door)," a police official told reporters.
Khurshid criticised the act on social media. "Shame is too ineffective a word," he said, adding that Monday’s incident “cannot be Hinduism”.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor criticised the incident as “shameful”. “Salman Khurshid is a statesman who has done India proud in international forums & always articulated a moderate, centrist, inclusive vision of the country domestically. The mounting levels of intolerance in our politics should be denounced by those in power,” Tharoor tweeted.
