(from email message by S. Sen)
Faced with shrinking public support - as captured in the recent bypoll results, the saffron stormtroopers are desperate to stir the communal cauldron as vigorously as they can.
In
the process, out to blur the line of separation between "Hinduism" - an
old (Indic) religion embracing multiple streams, and "Hindutva" - a
political ideology linked to that religious identity, originally given
definitive shape and also the tag by Savarkar, preaching and practising
hate, aggression and violence against the constructed inimical "others".
<<Senior
Congress leader Salman Khurshid had landed in controversy over his new
book on Ayodhya. A Delhi-based lawyer has filed a complaint against him,
accusing the 68-year-old of comparing "Hindutva" with radical Islamic
terror groups. Ahead of next year's elections in five states, the BJP
has also targeted the Congress, accusing it of playing "communal
politics" to get Muslim votes. The BJP has also demanded that Salman
Khurshid be sacked from the Congress and that Congress chief Sonia
Gandhi explain the statement "if she respects Hindus".
A
passage in Mr Khurshid's new book, ''Sunrise Over Ayodhya: Nationhood
in Our Times'', read: "*Sanatan Dharma and classical Hinduism known to
sages and saints were being pushed aside by a robust version of
Hindutva* [emphasis added], by all standards a political version similar
to the jihadist Islam of groups like ISIS and Boko Haram of recent
years".
Highlighting the
paragraph, Amit Malviya, the BJP's IT cell chief, tweeted: "Congress's
Salman Khurshid in his new book writes that Hindutva is similar to the
jihadist Islamist groups like ISIS and Biko 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?">>
(Excerpted from: <https://www.ndtv.com/india-
