New Delhi, Nov 13: Accusing BJP of trying to exploit the majority community in the name of Hindutva, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh has denied the existence of Hindutva ideology and claimed that it has no relevance to religion. "First of all there is no such thing as Hindutva....No such thing as soft-Hindutva....I deny its (Hindutva's) existence because it has no relevance to religion. It is a pseudo-religious term which BJP is trying to exploit the majority community of this country," he said on a programme on BBC World.
Asked if he has been using the issue of cow slaughter for political purposes, he said, "The BJP has been doing this all these years, so I was putting the mirror before their face."
However, the Chief Minister denied the accusation that he was "a paler shed of the BJP" saying, "I am sorry I am not that. The kind of fight that I have taken up with fundamentalist forces, whether it's Hindu fundamentalists or Muslim fundamentalists, I've taken them head on."
Asserting that he would "make it" in the coming Assembly election in the state, Singh claimed that his Congress party would get between 125 and 135 out of the 230 seats.
But, in case of his party losing power, Singh said he would serve as an MLA and not as leader of the Opposition in the House.
He said the state had made achievements in the fields of electricity, improved literacy, brought down child mortality rate and raised employment rate. Bureau Report