Hindutva and Hindu religion are different, asserts Siddaramaiah; BJP hits out

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah triggered an angry reaction from the BJP after he underlined that Hindu religion is very different from Hindutva.

Asked a question about “soft Hindutva” of the Congress, the veteran politician retorted on Thursday: "'Soft Hindutva? What is 'soft' and 'hard’ Hindutva? Hindutva is Hindutva. I am a Hindu. Hindutva is different and Hindu is different. Don't we worship Ram? Are they (BJP) the only ones? Haven't we built Ram mandirs? Don't we sing Ram Bhajans?"

Hindu religion

"People sing bhajans during the last week of December... I used to partake in that tradition in our village. This is practiced in other villages too. Are they (BJP) the only ones? Aren't we Hindus?" he asked.

In January this year too, he insisted that he was a Hindu but opposed to the Hindutva ideology and that he was opposed to using the Ram temple in Ayodhya for political gain.

A month later, when he was still the Leader of the Opposition, Siddaramaiah had said: "Hindutva is against the Constitution. Hindutva and Hindu dharma are different. I am a Hindu but I oppose Manuvad and Hindutva… No religion supports murder... but Hindutva supports murder and discrimination."

BJP hits out

The BJP's CN Ashwath Narayan accused Siddaramaiah and Congress of not having clarity about Bharat or Hindutva.

"Congress ... they don't respect the law of land. Why get into these religious aspects? They have no moral rights to talk about Hindutva," he said.