Salman Khurshid's 'Hindutva' remark in book sparks controversy; BJP slams Congress leader

Reacting to Khurshid’s comments, BJP on Thursday accused the Opposition party of weaving a ‘web like a spider against Hindus’ New Delhi/Bhopal: Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid sparked controversy by reportedly comparing a “robust version” of Hindutva to the jihadist Islam of terror groups such as the ISIS and Boko Haram with the BJP on Thursday accusing the opposition party of weaving a “web like a spider against Hindus”. According to lawyer Vivek Garg, Khurshid, in his book Sunrise Over Ayodhya: Nationhood in Our Times, wrote: “Sanatan Dharma and classical Hinduism known to sages and saints were being pushed aside by a robust version of Hindutva, by all standards a political version similar to the jihadist Islam of groups like ISIS and Boko Haram of recent years.” Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters in Delhi, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said Khurshid’s book on the Ayodhya verdict hurts religious sentiments of people. “In this book Hinduism is compared to ISIS and Boko Haram,” Bhatia said, adding, “the Congress is weaving a web like a spider against Hindus.” Alleging that this is happening at the behest of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, Bhatia questioned her silence on the issue and said: “If you remain silent, then it will be clear that your ideology is also against Hindus.” Demanding Khurshid’s removal from the Congress, the BJP spokesperson said, “Earlier, the term ‘Hindu terrorism’ was invented when the Congress was in power.” BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya in a tweet highlighted a paragraph of the book and said, “Congress’s Salman Khurshid in his new book writes that Hindutva is similar to the jihadist Islamist groups like ISIS and Boko Haram. What else can we expect from someone whose party coined the term Saffron terror just to draw equivalence with Islamic jihad, to get Muslim votes?” Congress’s Salman Khurshid in his new book writes that Hindutva is similar to the jihadist Islamist groups like ISIS and Biko Haram.