Expressing serious concern over "two distinct voices" that have emerged "louder" after the Gujarat election, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Tuesday made a veiled attack on the self-proclaimed champions of Hindutva, saying that the concept was being projected by "some people in a narrow, rigid and extremist manner."
In his "Musings from Goa," he said this was "an unfortunate and unacceptable interpretation" that ran totally contrary to Hindutva's true spirit.
The musings titled "Let us celebrate - and strengthen - our Indianness" carry a message of unity in diversity.
"I wish to comment on two distinct voices, which have become louder after the Gujarat elections. On the one hand, secularism is being pitted against Hindutva, under the belief that the two are antithetical to one another. This is incorrect and untenable," he said, adding that secularism was a concept of the state enjoining upon it the duty to show respect for all faiths and to practice no discrimination among citizens on the basis of their beliefs.
In this sense, the prime minister said, India had been secular since the beginning of her known history. "We chose to remain wedded to secularism even when Pakistan was carved out on the basis of the spurious and communal two-nation theory. This could not have been possible if the majority of Indians were not secular."