Shivraj Patil, the Congress veteran and former Home Minister, has courted controversy with his recent remark linking jihad with Bhagwat Gita. He said at an event that the concept of jihad had been present in the Hindu epics Mahabharat and Bhagwat Gita.
Patil claimed Lord Krishna talked to Arjuna about jihad in Bhagwat Gita. The BJP has dubbed the remarks as hatred against Hinduism and the party's vote bank politics.
"It's said there is a lot of discussion on Jihad in Islam religion... Even after all efforts, if someone doesn`t understand clean ideas, then power can be used. It is not just in the Quran Sharif, but also in the Mahabharata of which Gita is a part," Patil said, ANI reported.
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"Shri Krishna also talks to Arjuna about jihad. It is not like this is only in the Quran Sharif or the Gita but in Christianity also it is written...Christ has said that I have not come here to establish peace but I have come here with swords," Patil added.
The Congress leader further said, "If even after explaining everything, people do not understand and they are arriving with weapons then you cannot run, you cannot call that jihad and you cannot call it wrong, this is what must be understood, there should not be this concept of making people understand with weapons in hand."
Patil was the country's home minister between 2004 and 2008.
He was speaking at a book launch also attained by Shashi Tharoor, Farooq Abdullah and Sushil Kumar Shinde.
BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said the remarks displayed the party's Hindu hatred. He pointed out that the Congress "coined Hindu/Saffron terror, opposed Ram Mandir, questioned Ram's existence, and equated Hindutva with ISIS.
