BJP/RSS idea of Hindu Rashtra mirror image of Pakistan's concept of state: Shashi Tharoor elaborates 'Hindu Pak' remark

After facing criticism on his statement that India would become a Hindu Pakistan if the BJP assumed power next year, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor took to Facebook to defend his statement.

“Since some have bizarrely misconstrued my statement on the BJP seeking to turn India into a Hindu Pakistan, a short explanation of what the term means: I have said this before and I will say it again. Pakistan was created as a state with a dominant religion, that discriminates against its minorities and denies them equal rights. India never accepted the logic that had partitioned the country. But the BJP/RSS idea of a Hindu Rashtra is the mirror image of Pakistan -- a state with a dominant majority religion that seeks to put its minorities in a subordinate place. That would be a Hindu Pakistan, and it is not what our freedom movement fought for, nor the idea of India enshrined in our Constitution.”

Earlier, Tharoor further said that the saffron party will write a new constitution which will turn the country into Hindu Pakistan.

"That new one (Constitution) will be the one which will enshrine principles of Hindu Rashtra, that'll remove equality for minorities, that will create a Hindu Pakistan and that isn't what Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad and great heroes of freedom struggle fought for."

However, hitting back at Tharoor, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, "Shameless @INCIndia doesn’t lose any opportunity to demean India and defame the Hindus! From “Hindu terrorists” to “Hindu-Pakistan” the Pak appeasing policies of Congress are unparalleled!."

The Congress leader also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is more interested in political campaigning than in running the country.

Tharoor's remark came after Modi launched a scathing attack at the Congress Party while addressing a farmers' rally in Punjab.

Earlier in the day, Modi alleged that Congress had betrayed the peasantry and used them as a vote bank to further the interests of "one particular family".