Hindu Pakistan likely in 2019, says Shashi Tharoor

New Delhi: Defending his “Hindu Pakistan” remarks, former Union minister and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor asserted on Thursday that the BJP-RSS idea of a “Hindu rashtra” was the “mirror image of Pakistan”, as his own party asked its leaders to choose their words more carefully as a livid BJP asked Congress president Rahul Gandhi to apologise over his party colleague’s remarks that it said were an “attack on Indian democracy and Hindus”.

Mr Thraoor, Thiruvananthapuram’s MP, had at an event in his constituency on Wednesday, courted huge controversy over his remarks that if voted to power again, the BJP would rewrite the Constitution and pave the way for the creation of a “Hindu Pakistan”.

Attacking the Congress leader over his remarks, minister of state for information and broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said: “This is pure hallucination by Shashi Tharoor... I think this is withdrawal symptoms... neither are they in power, nor do they see power coming to them again. It’s the Congress that infringed our Constitution and the freedom of our citizens.” Targeting Mr Tharoor’s remarks, BJP spokesman Sambit Patra said it was an “attack on Indian democracy and on Hindus”. 

At an event in Thiruvananthapuram, Mr Tharoor said if the BJP was “able to win a repeat of their current strength in the Lok Sabha, then frankly, our own democratic Constitution, as we understand, will not survive... because then they will have all three elements they need to tear up the Constitution of India and write a new one... And that will enshrine the principle of Hindu rashtra, that will remove equality for minorities, and will create a Hindu Pakistan.