Union Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey on Saturday claimed that people living between the Himalayan mountain range and the Indian Ocean are all Hindus.
He said that Hindu is much more than a religion, it is a geographical identity.
While speaking at the ‘Digital Hindu Enclave’ in Hyderabad, the BJP minister said, “Many foreign scholars have agreed to the fact that our country is a land of knowledge. We all should be proud of being Indian.”
“I say Hinduism is a way of life and we should never restrict the word ‘Hindu’ to limited boundaries. Hindu is a geographical identity. All the people who live between the Himalayas and the Indian Ocean are Hindus,” Choubey added.
The Union Minister’s comments echo RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s opinion that every person living in India had Hindu ancestors which essentially makes everyone a Hindu.
BJP conspiring to divide Hindus in Maharashtra, says Uddhav Thackeray
Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray yesterday accused the BJP of conspiring to divide Hindus in the state.
Without naming the BJP, Thackeray alleged that it was trying to paint Maharashtra as “anti-Hindu” as it allegedly did in the cases of West Bengal and Kerala – both non-BJP ruled states.
“We always say Maharashtra shows the direction. Now, Maharashtra should show the direction again. It is the BJP’s conspiracy to divide Hindus and Marathis and non-Marathis in Maharashtra,” Thackeray alleged.
The BJP has been targeting its erstwhile ally, the Shiv Sena, over the issue of Hindutva ever since the Thackeray-led party formed government in Maharashtra by joining hands with the NCP and the Congress.
