Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha and president of All India Congress Committee, questioned right-wing Hindutva proponents as to why they didn’t accept the thoughts of Buddha when they said that Buddha was the ninth incarnation of Lord Vishnu.
“The Hindutva ideologues project Gautam Buddha as the ninth avatar (incarnation) of Lord Vishnu. They accept the eight avatars and respect their thoughts. When it comes to the ninth avatar [Buddha], they not only disagree with the Buddhist thought, but they also make every effort to kill the Buddhist thought. Because the Buddhist thought is scientific,” he said.
He was delivering presidential address at 67th Dhammachakra Pravartan Din, which is celebrated to mark the Buddhist conversion of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and his followers to Buddhism at Deekshabhoomi in Nagpur in 1956, at Buddha Vihar in Kalaburagi on Tuesday.
