Congress MP Shashi Tharoor today slammed the BJP for trying to create a single idea of India instead of upholding the inclusive model promised in the Constitution.
In a public meeting in Verna, South Goa, supporting Congress Lok Sabha candidate Captain Viriato Fernandes, Retd, Tharoor said the current state of affairs is the last straw to the slow poisoning of values created over the last 65 years.
He recollected his childhood days in Bombay when schoolmates belonged to different faiths and his parents never taught religion. He said, "We were simply Indians, inhabitants of a culturally rich, multilingual landscape."
"Nowadays," he complained, "we see a party obsessed not with equality but with the ritual of 'Hindi, Hindutva, Hindusthan', thereby creating a monolithic idea of India."
He said they believe in 'one nation, one election', 'one party, one leader', 'one religion, one god'. Their manifesto is of uniformity and centralized control, a far cry from the pluralistic spirit provided for in the Constitution by Babasaheb Ambedkar.
Speaking of the joy of supporting Captain Viriato Fernandes, a former naval officer, Tharoor reminded that the defense services are made up of people from different faiths, all sworn to protect the country.
"Now," he urged, "we must defend our democracy, which is under threat from the prevailing situation."
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