NEW DELHI: Addressing a gathering in Pakistan's Lahore, ousted Congress leader
MS Aiyar today said that Savarkar was the real proponent of the two-nation theory and followers of his ideology are today running the country.
"Present situation in India is an aberration, in 1923 a man called VD Savarkar invented a word which doesn't exist in any religious text, 'Hindutva'. So first proponent of the two-nation theory was ideological guru of those who are currently in power in India," Aiyar said.
Aiyar, who had earlier created a furore for addressing Jinnah as "Quaid-e-Azam" at an event in Pakistan, today asked, if a Pakistani calls MK Gandhi as Mahatma will that make him/her "unpatriotic".
"I referred to Jinnah as the Quaid e Azam and the hysterical Indian TV anchors are demanding to know how an Indian can go to Pakistan and say this. I know many Pakistanis who called MK Gandhi as Mahatma Gandhi, does that make them unpatriotic Pakistanis?" he added.
Aiyar said that Narendra Modi's election in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls was a result of a factionalism in the opposition.
"Seventy percent of Indians didn't vote for Mr.Modi in last elections but lost because they were completely factionated among themselves, it is my hope that a great number of this 70% will come together to put an end to the aberration we've been suffering in our country," he said.
Following Aiyar’s remark, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said that the former Congress leader should “retire from politics and sit at home”.
"First of all, he is suspended from the party. So nobody so take cognizance of what Mani Shankar says. I wonder why he is going to Pakistan and making all these statements. It looks like there is something wrong with him. He should retire from politics and sit at home,” Azad said on Times Now.
