India TV Editor-in-Chief Rajat Sharma
The voluble Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor had a jibe at BJP when he said that if the BJP retained power in next year's general elections, it would alter the Constitution, which, in turn, would create conditions for, what he called, a 'Hindu Pakistan'. The BJP has demanded an apology from the Congress MP saying that it was nothing but an attack on 'Indian democracy and Hindus'.
The Congress, on its part, distanced itself from the controversy and advised its leaders on the need for 'responsible phraseology'. Chief spokesperson of the party Randeep Singh Surjewala said: “India’s values & fundamentals are an unequivocal guarantee of our civilisational role & set us apart from the divisive idea of Pakistan. All Congress leaders must realise this historic responsibility bestowed upon us while choosing words & phraseology to reject BJP’s hatred.”
The surprising thing about Tharoor's comment is that he quoted remarks made by Veer Savarkar and Deendayal Upadhyay on Hindu Rashtra to justify his stand.
The Congress party is often embarrassed by comments made by its own leaders like Mani Shankar Aiyar and Shashi Tharoor. In such circumstances, the party spokespersons find themselves on a sticky wicket. They have no way out but to distance the party from such individual remarks, and advise their own leaders to think before they speak.
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