Congress cautions Shashi Tharoor over his controversial 'Hindu Pakistan' comment

Addressing a press conference, Congress leader Jaiveer Shergill said: "I urge all Congress leaders and workers to be careful about their statements. Even if the BJP government remains mum on its leaders' offensive comments or calls ISIS and Pakistan to the country or thanks Pakistan to win Jammu and Kashmir elections or its minister defeats the constitution by felicitating convicts, but our country can never become Pakistan.

"I would urge all our leaders to choose words and give statements carefully."

Tharoor made the comment while giving his lecture on the "Threats faced by Indian Democracy and Secularism" on Wednesday.

The Congress leader has been quoted by NDTV, ".......if they (BJP) are able to win a repeat of their current strength in the Lok Sabha, then frankly our democratic constitution as we understand will not survive because they will have all the three elements they need to tear up the Constitution of India and write a new one."

"That will be a new one which will enshrine the principle of Hindu Rashtra, will 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," he added.

The comment has drawn anger from the ruling BJP which demanded an apology from Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Reacting to Tharoor's comment, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said: "Mr. Shashi Tharoor, if you want to love people of Pakistan, of course do it but it is not right to hate the Indians."

"Congress was certified by Hafiz Saeed (Pakistani Islamist militant) and LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamic terrorism militant organisation)" he added.

Defending himself in a Facebook post, Tharoor on Thursday said: "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."

Alleging that the BJP would threaten India's secularism, the Congress leader added, "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.

"Many proud Hindus like myself cherish the inclusive nature of our faith and have no desire to live, as our Pakistani neighbours are forced to, in an intolerant theocratic state. We want to preserve India and not turn our beloved country into a Hindu version of Pakistan.”