Former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh on Saturday said, “The word Hindutva is not in my dictionary.” He was replying to a reporter’s query on whether the BJP decision to field Pragya Thakur was an attempt to make Hindutva an election issue. He also discounted that Pragya’s electoral foray could lead to polarization of votes and said that in the past the BJP had fielded an-ex home secretary, who used ‘H indu terror’, and later even made him an union minister. He then went on to ask BJP president Amit Shah to come clean on it.
He stayed clear of Pragya’s Karkare comment and refused to comment on the notice issued to her by district electoral officer. He said that the matter was between Pragya and Election Commission and he could not say anything on it. On Pragya issuing statemen ts against him, the former chief minister said that he does not consider anyone enemy.
On the other hand, BJP has made Singh’s statement on Hindutva an election issue. The BJP, which was on back foot after Pragya’s controversial statement on Karkare, has latched on to Digvijaya’s Hindutva comment. BJP spokesman Rajnish Agarwal said that the Supreme Court has defined Hindutva as a way of living of Indians. Agarwal said the country knows the intentions of those who want to do politics of appeasement and vote bank.
THE TWEET
My Hindu religion is my faith. I never sought publicity of my Narmada parikrama & Raghoragh temple’s tradition’s. For decades I performed Govardhan Parikrama and Pandarpur darshan but I never did it for publicity. Since when did BJP candidates and supporters come between me and the god. When did they become certificate issuing agents?
