New Delhi, Aug 27 (PTI) BJP MP Subramanian Swamy on Thursday said the party is not converting India into a Hindu state and the Constitution also forbids it, while asserting that it will remain in power till its Hindutva ideology remains intact.
Claiming that the Congress formed governments in the past by uniting minorities and dividing Hindus, Swamy said politically, Hindus should be united as a community by sinking their differences.
He made these remarks at a webinar organised by the Foreign Correspondents Club, where AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi was also invited to put forth his views.
"For years and years, the Congress was able to divide the Hindus and unite the minorities and therefore, it was able to form governments easily time after time," Swamy said.
The Hindus were allegedly divided by the Congress on the basis of "bogus" historical ideas such as the Aryans and Dravidians, castes and so on, he said.
The BJP leader said the vote share of the saffron party has gone up because of its Hindutva ideology.
"If the Hindutva ideology is intact, then we are going to win elections after elections no matter what the economic performance is unless it goes to really bad," he said.
Urging Hindus to sink all their differences and unite to become a community, Swamy said, politically, they must not let themselves get divided on the basis of caste, region or language.
Countering the BJP leader's pitch for Hindutva, Owaisi said the beauty of India, where people of different religions live, is in its diversity.
"But Swamy, for his Hindutva ideology, is only concerned about the people who believe in this ideology and not even Hindus," he said.
Owaisi said the idea of Hindutva clearly says a majority religion can have primacy over other religions and people who do not subjugate themselves to that religion will be treated as second-class citizens.
