Congress MP Shashi Tharoor (Express Archive)
Even as the Congress’s national leadership distanced itself from Shashi Tharoor’s “Hindu Pakistan” remark, the party’s Kerala unit has stood behind the Thiruvananthapuram MP. Tharoor remarked on Wednesday that India will become a “Hindu Pakistan” if the saffron party wins elections in 2019. He said in a Facebook post-Thursday that a state with a dominant majority religion that seeks to put its minorities in a subordinate place would be a Hindu Pakistan.
The BJP sharply reacted to the remark, prompting Congress to say leaders should be cautious in choosing words to target BJP. Leader of Opposition in Kerala Assembly Ramesh Chennithala said, “What Tharoor has raised is a serious matter, which is very relevant. If Modi comes to power again, BJP would attempt to re-write the Constitution. Tharoor has cautioned about this threat and there is nothing wrong in his statement.”
State Congress chief M M Hassan said the party backed Tharoor’s statement. “What he has stated is the sentiments of secular Congress workers,” he said.