Ghulam Nabi Azad says idea of India under threat due to politics of religion, warns it may end up like Pakistan

Varanasi: Those indulging in the “politics of religion and caste” should learn a lesson from what happened in Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s Pakistan, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad has said. [caption id=“attachment_2116273” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad. AFP[/caption] Addressing a seminar titled “Idea of India: Indira’s contribution to it” on Monday, the leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha said the idea of India was under threat. “Desh ke us paar Jinnah Sahab ko dekh lejiye, dharm ki rajneeti ki wajha se kya hashra hai wahan (Look across the border to see what has happened to Pakistan because of Jinnah’s politics of religion),” he said. Azad said Jinnah had indulged in the “politics of religion and caste”, resulting in his nation being ruined. “Today there is a threat to the idea of India — its sovereignty, unity and integrity faces threat,” Azad said. He recalled the late prime minister Indira Gandhi, who he said, “took all the sections of people together, irrespective of their caste or religion”. “She also respected and promoted people of all ages, whether they were young party leaders or the older ones,” Azad said. He also urged party workers to read the history of the Congress party and that of its leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, who treated everyone equally irrespective of their religion or caste. Addressing the gathering, Congress state chief Raj Babbar lashed out at prime minister Narendra Modi over the violence in Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and lathi-charge on women. “On daughters’ day, girls were beaten up with lathis…they received inhumane treatment. Our prime minister was in Varanasi when they (students) were staging dharna, he should have come at least to take a selfie with them,” he said. The seminar was also addressed by senior Congress leaders, including Pramod Tiwari, Sanjay Singh and Women Congress national president Sushmita Dave among others.