No good Hindu would want to see a temple built at Babri site, Shashi Tharoor stirs controversy
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, speaking at The Hindu Lit for Life Dialogue 2018 in Chennai on Sunday, said that no good Hindu would want to see a temple built at the Babri mosque site.
“While a vast majority of Hindus believe that Ayodhya was the birthplace of Lord Ram, no good Hindu would want to see a Ram temple built by demolishing somebody else’s place of worship,” he claimed.
He said that as a Hindu he is very conscious that a majority of Hindus wanted a Ram temple to be built at that site. “To my knowledge, Hinduism is all about acceptance“, the literary fest body tweeted quoting Tharoor.
Citing the upcoming challenges, he said, “I think we have to brace ourselves for some more unpleasantness in the months to come because there has been a correlation, in the not so distant past, between the advent of elections and the stoking of religious passions, communal rioting. That’s indeed my worry.”
Shashi Tharoor stokes mega controversy, says ‘No good Hindu would want temple at Babri site’ #CongMandirDuplicityhttps://t.co/jPApFhvM93
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) October 15, 2018
His remarks came just few weeks before the Supreme Court is set to hear the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case.
BJP national spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao criticised Congress leader’s statement linking the construction of Ram temple with the demolition of a disputed structure several years ago. He noted that it’s another attempt by the Congress party to indulge in vote-bank politics.
On Monday, Shashi Tharoor clarified that his statement was his personal opinion.
He tweeted, “I condemn the malicious distortion of my words by some media in the service of political masters. I said: ‘most Hindus would want a temple at what they believe to be Ram’s birthplace. But no good Hindu would want it to be built by destroying another’s place of worship.’ I was asked for my personal opinion at a literary festival & gave it as such. I am not a Spokesperson for my party & did not claim to be speaking for (Congress)@incindia.”
