The house of senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid in Uttarakhand's Nainital was vandalised and set on fire by a group of Hindutva activists in response to his book on Ayodhya sparking controversy for remarks comparing Hindutva and Islamic fundamentalists like the Islamic State.
Khurshid shared the visuals and photos of his house after the vandalism on Facebook, which showed flames, charred doors and shattered window panes. He also shared a video of a group of people shouting slogans on the premises.
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"I hoped to open these doors to my friends who have left this calling card. Am I still wrong to say this cannot be Hinduism?... So such is the debate now. Shame is too ineffective a word. Besides I still hope that we can reason together one day and agree to disagree if not more," he wrote in separate posts on Facebook.
Deputy Inspector General (Kumaon) Neelesh Anand said that police have booked one Rakesh Kapil and 20 others and strict action will be taken against the perpetrators.
"I have said in my book that people who do such things do not belong to the Hindu religion. Hindu religion is a beautiful religion that has given a fantastic culture to this country and I am proud of it. This attack is not on me but on Hindu religion," Khurshid was quoted by ANI as saying.
The attack came days after his book 'Sunrise over Ayodhya' triggered a controversy after he wrote, "Sanatan dharma and classical Hinduism known to sages and saints were being pushed aside by a robust version of Hindutva, by all standards a political version similar to jihadist Islam of groups like ISIS and Boko Haram of recent years."
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While another Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad found fault with the remarks, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, without referring to Khurshid's book, told a gathering of Congress workers that Hinduism and Hindutva are different and the latter propagates violence.
Reacting to the vandalism, senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor tweeted, "this is disgraceful. Salman Khurshid is a statesman who has done India proud in international forums and always articulated a moderate, centrist, inclusive vision of the country domestically. The mounting levels of intolerance in our politics should be denounced by those in power."
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Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh, who attended the book launch function, said, "I strongly condemn the attack on Salman Khurshid-Ji's residence. These illiterates don't even know what is in the book."