NEW DELHI: Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar He caused further uproar on Sunday after he said Hindutva was “Hinduism in paranoia,” prompting strong reactions at the verdict BJP. During the debate on ‘Hinduism needs protection from Hindutva’ organized by the Calcutta Debating Circle, Aiyar said Hindutva is a BJP leader “beating a blind, hungry tribal girl for attending a Christmas dinner in a church”.Aiyar also said Hindutva “asks 80 percent of Hindus to tremble before 14 percent of Muslims.”
“Hindutva is a Hinduism in paranoia. It requires 80% of Hindus to tremble in front of 14% of Muslims. Hindutva is a BJP leader beating a blind, hungry tribal girl for attending a Christmas dinner in a church. Hindutva raiding malls to tear down Christmas decorations,” Aiyar said during the debate. He also quoted VD Savarkar, saying that the Hindutva ideologue sees Buddhism as an existential threat to all Hindus. “He described it as the ultimate negation of Hindutva tainted with the opiate of universalism and non-violence. He said it was disastrous for national masculinity and even for the existence of the Hindu race,” Aiyar said, referring to Savarkar.“Hindutva a political treatise”Distinguishing between Hinduism and Hindutva, Aiyar said Hinduism is “a great spiritual religion while Hindutva is a political tract.” He also said that Hinduism faced trials and tribulations and yet managed to survive and thrive without the protection of Hindutva.“Hinduism is a great spiritual religion. Hindutva is a political tract. Hindutva came only in 1923; thousands of years before Hindutva, Hinduism faced trials and tribulations and yet survived, flourished without needing Hindutva protection… There is no way that Gandhi and Swami Vivekananda’s Hinduism can be protected or promoted by Savarkar’s Hindutva,” Aiyar was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.“Valuing Hinduism is Hindutva”At the same event, Rajya Sabha member and BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi said that Hindutva represents “Hindu Tattva” which is the core of Hinduism. He further argued that Hinduism is unique among religions in giving its followers the power to debate, even over its sacred texts.“…Which culture gives you the authority to debate religious texts too? It is only Hindu… I would like to ask why the term Hinduism? Why is ‘ism’ associated with all religions that originated in India? Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism. You have never heard of Islamism and Christianity… The world of “ism” is associated only to demean and what Hindutva is, “Hindu Tattva”. The basic immunity of Hinduism is the Hindu Tattva.… One more thing I would like to say: If you value Hinduism, you call it Hindutva,” said the Trivedi.BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari criticized Aiyar’s remark and said, “Once again the Congress is trying to create a divide between Hindus.” They want one Hindu to compete against another Hindu. This benefits the Congress, whose sole focus is “to consolidate the vote bank: unite minorities, divide Hindu majority,” he said.
