"Cannot do politics with anti-India ideology for long": VHP slams Iltija Mufti for calling 'Hindutva a disease'

New Delhi [India], December 9 (ANI): Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) National Spokesperson Vinod Bansal slammed People's Democratic Party leader Iltija Mufti for calling Hindutva a "disease," and said that with "anti-India ideology" one cannot do politics for long.
"You cannot do politics with anti-India ideology for long. Those who are trying to nurture and raise separatists and terrorists through these statements have now been eliminated. That 'Babarwadi' mentality and culture of 'Babri' have left the country," Bansal told ANI on Sunday.
The VHP spokesperson further said that India is changing, India has moved forward.
"Our youth are coming forward for the progress of the country in the Kashmir valley...The entire country along with Jammu and Kashmir is on the path of development...Perhaps due to these reasons and due to the politics of hatred, the party lost badly at both the places it contested the election (J&K Assembly elections)," he added.
Earlier on Sunday, PDP leader Iltija Mufti, daughter of former J-K CM Mehbooba Mufti, clarified her 'controversial' post where she expressed a strong criticism of 'Hindutva,' calling it a 'disease.'
This comes after the PDP leader, reacting to a purported video of the attack on minor Muslim boys forced to chant 'Jai Shri Ram,' called Hindutva "a disease" that has "afflicted millions of Indians and sullied a God's name."
"Ram the deity must hang his head in shame and watch helplessly as minor Muslim boys are whacked with chappals only because they refuse to chant his name," she stated.
Clarifying her stance on Sunday, Mufti drew a clear distinction between Hindutva and Hinduism, emphasising that the former is a religion promoting values of secularism, love, and compassion, similar to Islam, while criticised Hindutva as an "ideology of hate".
"There is a lot of difference between Hindutva and Hinduism. Hindutva is a philosophy of hate that Veer Savarkar spread in India in the 1940s with the aim of establishing the hegemony of Hindus, and the philosophy was that India belongs to Hindus and is for Hindus. Like Islam, Hinduism is also a religion that promotes secularism, love, and compassion. So, let's not deliberately distort it," she said.
Mufti further argued that the slogan "Jai Shri Ram" is being used as a tool to instigate hate, rather than representing the ideals of "Ramrajya." (ANI)