Jinnah, Savarkar equally responsible for partition: Aiyar

Rajya Sabha MP Mani Shankar Aiyar Saturday held Pakistan`s founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah and RSS leader Vinayak Damodar `Veer` Savarkar equally responsible for the partition of India in 1947.

New Delhi: Rajya Sabha MP Mani Shankar Aiyar Saturday held Pakistan`s founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Vinayak Damodar `Veer` Savarkar equally responsible for the partition of India in 1947.
Speaking at a convention of the Congress` Delhi unit on "Communal Harmony and Indian National Congress," Aiyar, a former minister, said that Savarkar favoured the "two nation theory" as he wanted a "Hindu nation" and also supported Jinnah`s demand for a separate state of Pakistan.

He termed the RSS and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) "the children of Savarkar".

If India became a Hindu state, sectarian clashes would take place between "Shaivites and Vaishnavites" just like between Shia and Sunni Muslims in Pakistan," he claimed.

Speaking on the occassion, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said the Congress is a secular party and "people from all sections of society are a part of it and get equal status".

The event was organised as part of the Congress` 125th anniversary celebrations.

IANS

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