Congress on Thursday chose to distance itself from BJP’s brand of Hindutva by declaring that it had embraced 'Swami Vivekananda’s Hindutva'.
“Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Brahmashri Narayan Guru’s Hindutva are accepted by all. This is the ideology of Congress,” said district-in-charge Minister U T Khader.
He was reacting to BJP’s accusations that the party was indulging in 'soft Hindutva’ to woo Hindu voters. Khader defended the Congress-JD(S) coalition government’s candidate Mithun Rai’s recitation of the ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ before his speech.
“The recitation of the Hanuman Chalisa (a devotional hymn on Lord Hanuman) is also Swami Vivekananda’s Hindutva. It does not offend minorities in particular,” he argued.
He added that Mithun Rai who hails from a respectable family has been reciting Hanuman Chalisa since childhood. "Hindus and Muslims should vote for Rai who recites Chalisa and the Quran in the same breath. Congress is against extremist Hindutva of the BJP which propagates violence," he remarked.
Manifestoes
The minister also appealed to voters to introspect before voting. “Do not vote for BJP. Modi will not come and address local problems. It is the responsibility of your MP to raise local issues in Parliament. Send an intelligent MP to the Lok Sabha,” he stressed.
He claimed that Congress manifesto had 'Nyaya' which benefits people.
BJP’s manifesto intends to divide people. "This year’s manifesto is a copy of the previous one. In its previous manifestoes, BJP had promised to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution, implement uniform civil code, bring back black money from Swiss banks. The voters need to ask BJP if they have fulfilled any of these promises?” Khader pointed out.
Khader recollected that the BJP had opposed GST, Aadhar and FDI (Foreign Direct Investment). But after coming to power, they implemented all those.
“The Congress has not done any election 'jumla'. Whatever the Congress promises, the Congress will deliver. It is not an election involving prime ministerial candidates,” he stressed.
Congress MLC Harish Kumar, former minister Abhaychandra Jain, Kallige Taranath Shetty among others were also present.
Clarification on case withdrawal
Khader clarified that he had not recommended to the government that 142 heinous cases should be withdrawn.
He stated that the coalition government had not taken any such decision. The previous Congress government might have taken the decision. I will bring this to the attention of the Home Minister,” he assured.