File photo of Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Incidents perpetrated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that incite communal tensions between Hindus and Muslims would make India a ‘Hindu Pakistan’, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut alleged in an editorial in the Shiv Sena-Uddav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) mouthpiece Saamana.

“Many nations built on the basis of religion have collapsed. Pakistan is one of them. This country survived because people like Pandit Nehru did not allow it to become a Hindu Pakistan, but during the Modi era, the country is being pushed towards a new Partition. Are we heading towards a Hindu Pakistan?” Mr. Raut wrote in the Saamana editorial titled ‘The country is heading towards a Hindu Pakistan’.

Mr. Raut cited several incidents that incited violence against Muslims, including ‘Malhar Certification’ for meat; comments by the BJP’s representatives on razing down Aurangzeb’s grave; and processions in front of mosques, allegedly to celebrate the Indian cricket team’s victory in the Champions Trophy.

“If this poison continues to be spread like this, the pace of India becoming a Hindu Pakistan will also increase. All these have created hatred and aversion towards the Muslim community in the minds of the people, making the social and national flow of the country poisonous,” Mr. Raut wrote.

He referred to Jawaharlal Nehru’s comment that India’s Constitution will be secular lest it became a ‘Hindu Pakistan’, despite many other leaders promoting a two-nation theory.

Criticising Prime Minister Narednra Modi’s ‘mangalsutra’ comment during an election campaign, Mr. Raut said that when heads of states of Muslim nations arrived, Mr. Modi displayed a different approach.

Mr. Raut also accused Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath of discriminating against Muslim goons in extra-judicial or ‘encounter’ killings.

“Encounters between Muslim mafias and goons are going on in States like Uttar Pradesh, but the goons and mafias of the caste to which Yogi belongs have complete immunity. That is, the Hindu mafia has full right to loot Hindus in a BJP-ruled State,” the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said.

He also remarked on the contribution of Muslim freedom fighters. “Many Muslim freedom fighters served sentences in the dark waters of the Andaman. Many died there. They were also tortured by the British. People who have contributed zero to India’s freedom struggle and the creation of India are obsessed with inferiority complex and are re-creating two nations — Hindu-Muslim. This plan should be foiled,” Mr. Raut said.

Referring to the argument between ruling and Opposition party members over the nature of Aurangzeb’s rule, he said that a lot of people who worked in Maratha king Shivaji’s government were Muslims, alleging that the BJP was placing the historical figure in a “fanatic frame”.

“When the Maharaja was under Aurangzeb’s house arrest in Agra, Madari Mehtar, who helped Shivaji escape from there, was a Muslim. Chhatrapati’s secret department secretary was Haider Ali, and his arsenal chief was Ibrahim Khan. Shivaji Maharaj did not do ‘religious’ politics. He respected all languages. Today, it is a national sin to put Shivaji in a separate religious fanatical frame,” Mr. Raut said.

He concluded the editorial by suggesting that “volatile people” should be kept out of the Cabinet if Chief Minsiter Devendra Fadnavis had to follow Chhatrapati Shivaji.

“Some people want to uproot the grave of Aurangzeb, but in Maharashtra, Hindu Pakistanis are creating a Hindu Aurangzeb. They are more terrible than the Aurangzeb in the grave,” Mr. Raut said.