If BJP wins 2019 elections, India will become 'Hindu Pakistan': Shashi Tharoor

The BJP/RSS idea of a Hindu Rashtra is the mirror image of Pakistan, said the Congress leader.

Shashi Tharoor Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said that if Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wins next Lok Sabha elections it will create a new one that will enshrine the principles of Hindu Rashtra, and convert the country into Hindu Pakistan.
Tharoor took to social media to explain that the BJP will write a new Constitution which will pave the way for a nation, much like Pakistan, where rights of minorities are not respected.

Since some have bizarrely misconstrued my statement on the BJP seeking to turn India into a #HinduPakistan, a short explanation of what the term means: https://t.co/8H5euZK5gy
- Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 12, 2018

"I have said this before and I will say it again. Pakistan was created as a state with a dominant religion, that discriminates against its minorities and denies them equal rights. India never accepted the logic that had partitioned the country. But the BJP/RSS idea of a Hindu Rashtra is the mirror image of Pakistan - a state with a dominant majority religion that seeks to put its minorities in a subordinate place. That would be a Hindu Pakistan, and it is not what our freedom movement fought for, nor the idea of India enshrined in our Constitution.
Many proud Hindus like myself cherish the inclusive nature of our faith and have no desire to live, as our Pakistani neighbours are forced to, in an intolerant theocratic state. We want to preserve India and not turn our beloved country into a Hindu version of Pakistan."

Earlier on Wednesday, while delivering a lecture on the 'Threats Faced by Indian Democracy and Secularism' in Thriruvanthapuram , he had said: "That new one (constitution) will be the one which will enshrine principles of Hindu Rashtra, that'll remove equality for minorities, that'll create a Hindu Pakistan and that isn't what Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad and great heroes of freedom struggle fought for."
According to a ANI report, the comment did not go down well with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

If they (BJP) win a repeat in the Lok Sabha our democratic constitution as we understand it will not survive as they will have all the elements they need to tear apart the constitution of India & write a new one: Shashi Tharoor pic.twitter.com/vY7lWrjYSb
- ANI (@ANI) July 11, 2018

The party spokesperson Sambit Patra said, "From Hindu terrorism to Hindu Pakistan, Congress' Pak appeasing policies are unparalleled." He also sought an apology from Congress President Rahul Gandhi for the same.

• India