Panaji: BJP president Nitin Gadkari on Friday said though he believes in Hindutva, he does not go to temples, or even perform a puja.
"I don't go the temples. I don't perform puja," Gadkari said during an interaction at 'Goa Think Fest 2011'.
The BJP president, however, defended his party's politics of Hindutva. "Hinduism is a way of life. It is not about a religion," he said, adding, "Political Hindutva is a debatable subject."
"We are a nationalist party. We have a lot of socio-economic thinking in our party," Gadkari said.
Contending that media had projected a wrong image of BJP vis-a-vis Hindutva, Gadkari said the reality was different. "Media keeps on labeling us. May be, we have not been able to reply to their allegations properly."
Swearing by his humble beginning in the politics, he said that he did not aspire to become the Prime Minister or even a Chief Minister.
To a question, he said he would not mind visiting Pakistan, if invited. "I hope for progress and development of Pakistan," he said, adding that if neighbouring countries like Bangladesh prospered, it would benefit India.
"I had once jokingly said to a friend that if Bangladesh prospers, at least all those Bangladeshis staying illegally here will go back," he said.
Think Fest 2011, a three-day conclave, began in Goa on Friday.
Meanwhile, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP termed Gadkari's remarks that he neither goes to temples nor performs puja, as double-speak.
"In June this year, at the BJP's National Executive meet in Lucknow, Gadkari, exhorted people from all castes, communities and political affiliations to come forward and help build a grand temple in Ayodhya," Mahesh Tapase, spokesperson of NCP's Maharashtra unit, said.
"What a strange contradiction. This double speak by the president of India's main opposition party clearly shows that the Ram temple issue was only a political agenda well masked in the garb of religious emotions with the sole aim to gain power at the cost of loss of communal harmony and brotherhood amongst India's diverse communities," he said.
Tapase asked Gadkari to clarify whether he believes in Ram and whether he has ever worshipped the god.
"He should also elaborate on the meaning of Hindutva," Tapase said.
Comments
0 comment