GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 22nd Oct. Congress frequently appears to be in the news. By claiming that the Mahabharata War and jihad are the same, former Home Minister and senior Congress politician Shivraj Patil sparked a significant uproar.
Shivraj Patil, the leader of the Congress, made a statement regarding Geeta and Jihad that is now perceived as a problem for the party itself. He even claimed that Arjuna had learned about jihad from Lord Krishna in the Gita during a speech he gave in Delhi. He then went on to make even more bizarre comments about religion and attempted to Abrahamize Hinduism. He said that he made the remarks after reading the Quran and indicated that the existence of only one God, as is believed in monotheistic religions like Islam and Christianity, is similar to the Dharmic notion of the supreme God. He said that the Abrahamic faiths’ descriptions of God are identical to those in the Gita, saying, “They (Abrahamic religions) claim that God exists but cannot be converted into an idol. Hindu deities lack form and shape and cannot be recreated as an idol, according to the Bhagavad Gita.
The timing of Patil’s speech coincides with Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, his visits to several temples to offer prayers, and the upcoming elections in Gujarat and Himachal.
Shivraj Patil’s statement is anti-Hindu, BJP claims
Prem Shukla, a spokesman for the BJP at the National level, claimed that Patil’s comments are just another chapter in the Congress’ ongoing plot to “insult Hindu, Hindutva, and Hindustan.”
He claimed that Congress officials had previously drawn comparisons between the Hindutva movement and terrorist groups like Boko Haram and the Taliban.
He said that Sushilkumar Shinde and P Chidambaram, two former Union ministers, had discussed “saffron terror.” According to Shukla, the Gita is the philosophy of humanity.
This is how the vote bank is used, according to Poonawalla
BJP spokesperson Shahzad Poonawalla criticized Shivraj Patil’s remarks, claiming that this hate of Hindus is not a coincidence but rather a vote-bank experiment. He added that this had been done on purpose to split the electorate in advance of the Gujarat elections. Rahul Gandhi previously spoke extensively about Hindutva.
The BJP has criticized the Congress for “Hindu bigotry” and “vote-bank politics” in response to Patil’s comments.
Congress interprets the Gita as advocating jihad
In response to the statement made by the Congressman, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi claimed that people who interpret the Gita to convey a message of jihad cannot comprehend the significance of Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Kedarnath. In front of the media, he questioned, “Do you believe that the message Shri Krishna has given to Arjuna constitutes Jihad?”
VHP also targeted
In response to the Congress leader’s remarks, Dr. Surendra Jain, the leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, asserted that the Gita outlines the path to personal, social, and global welfare. The Gita is regarded as the global scripture for world peace and serves as an inspiration to great people from all over the world. Arjuna was taught Karmayoga by Lord Krishna in the Gita, he claimed, but it is disgraceful if Congress interprets that as calling for Jihad. Since independence, he claimed, Congress has taken a similar anti-Hindu stance. He claimed that neither the Gita nor the purpose of Jihad were understood by Congress leaders.
Shivraj Patil’s remarks were deemed contentious by Congress
The party is now attempting damage management by seeking to distance itself from the contentious remarks.
Congress, on the other hand, distanced itself from Shivraj Patil’s contentious claim that the concept of “jihad” is not only in the Quran but also in the Bhagwad Gita and Christianity, calling it “unacceptable.”
On Friday, Congress member Jairam Ramesh tweeted a passage from Jawaharlal Nehru’s “Discovery of India” in which the former Prime Minister discusses Geeta’s “universality” on Twitter.
“Incidentally, I learned Bhagavad Gita in my early teens and have had a life-long fascination with it as a cultural and philosophical text, with a profound influence on Indian society over the ages. I wrote about this in my book The Light of Asia: The Poem that defined the Buddha.”
Incidentally, I learned Bhagavad Gita in my early teens and have had a life-long fascination with it as a cultural & philosophical text, with a profound influence on Indian society over the ages. I wrote about this in my book The Light of Asia: The Poem that defined the Buddha. https://t.co/dLV7964JPQ
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) October 21, 2022
“My senior colleague Shivraj Patil reportedly made some comments on Bhagavad Gita that’s unacceptable. Subsequently, he clarified. @INCIndia’s stand is clear. Bhagavad Gita is a key foundational pillar of Indian civilisation. Here’s an excerpt from Nehru’s Discovery of India(p110),” Jairam Ramesh said.
Patil, who served as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 1991 to 1996 as well as the Union Home Minister from 2004 to 2008, was addressing the crowd at the book launch for Mohsina Kidwai, a prominent member of the Congress and a former Union Minister. Shashi Tharoor, Digvijaya Singh, Farooq Abdullah, and Sushil Kumar Shinde were among the prominent dignitaries in attendance during the event.
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