Kolkata: Launching a scathing attack on the ruling BJP party, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor asserted the ruling party’s agenda is to create a ‘Hindu Rashtra’.
Speaking at the Kolkata Literary Meet, Congress MP Tharoor also claimed the real “tukde tukde gang” is the ruling BJP party which is dividing the country basing on religion, News18 reports.
“With no development on its agenda, the ruling party is making a complete exposition of its agenda to create a Hindu rashtra,” Tharoor claimed.
The ruling government does not have the mentality for development, he said, which as a matter of fact seems true with India’s economy falling in a deeper slumber by the day.
“The real tukde tukde gang is the ruling party which is dividing the country into bits and pieces. The party wants to divide us further the way the British Raj did through the divide and rule policy”, Tharoor said.
“Should religion be a determinant for nationhood? Mahatma Gandhi went for a secular India, unlike Pakistan which went on to become an Islamic state.”
“Our Constitution reflects dignity and equality for all. The Constitution reflects that and also essentially rejected the idea of religion-based citizenship,” Tharoor reminds people who have forgotten the essence of our Constitution.
For the first time ever in India, religion is considered as a determinant for citizenship and discriminates against one religion, Islam, he said.
“The onus will be on us to prove that we are Indians,” the Thiruvananthapuram MP claimed.
BJP leaders often quote Swami Vivekananda, but the monk in his famous Chicago speech had greeted people of all faiths of the world as brothers and sisters, which BJP has turned deaf ears to, he said.
“But BJP has reduced this to six faiths and three nations”, he said, referring to the amended Citizenship Act.
Referring to the proposed nationwide NRC, Tharoor said 65 percent of the people do not have documentation. “This is what the present government has burdened us with”.
Speaking on the economic front, Tharoor said the ruling BJP has destroyed the economy and brought in demonetization “in Tughlaqi style”.
“There is a high level of unemployment, a record number of farmers committing suicides. There is food price inflation”, he said.