India’s character as a secular democratic republic is under severe strain, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said on Tuesday. There is an ongoing effort to transform secular democratic India into a Hindu Rashtra, he added.
He was addressing a seminar on ‘Future of Democratic India’ organised by the Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP) in connection with its diamond jubilee celebrations here on Tuesday.
“V.D. Savarkar of the Hindu Mahasabha clearly said that Hindutva has nothing to do with Hindu religion or religious practices. It’s a political project, which advocates that only those whose ‘Mathrubhoomi [motherland], Pithrubhhoomi [fatherland] and Punyabhoomi [sacred land]’ is in India can live in the country. Muslims and Christians have their Punyabhoomi outside the country.”
