Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, who has often been accused of playing to the gallery on minority issues, on Tuesday accused Narendra Modi, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Bharatiya Janata Party of spreading "blatant lies" and painting him as "anti Hindu".
Maintaining that he is a "good practising Hindu", the Congress general secretary said that it was his duty to stand up to all "falsehood the sanghis and their paid professionals are spreading" against Muslims, Christians and other minority groups.
"BJP's Hindutva has nothing to do with religion but a ploy to dupe unsuspecting Hindus..... A good Hindu would always respect all other religion unlike the sangh brigade," he said in his blog.
Singh said that that he prays every day for half an hour and was given 'dikhsa' by Shankaracharya of Dwarka and Joshi Math and that there are nine temples at his residence at Raghogarh in Madhya Pradesh, where pooja is performed every day.
"Would all those who believe I am anti-Hindu please take note of this?... Or do they know a more devout Hindu in BJP and RSS? If they do I would like to meet him," he said in the blog while giving a number of references to his association with the Hindu sanatan dharma.
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'Sanghi gang spreading blatant lies about me'
"I have the rare privilege to be the most abused person on social media by the sanghis and the paid professionals hired by Modi operating from sanskar dham in Manipur Sanand near Ahmedabad. I have been called Dogvijaya Singh some time Pigvijaya Singh by the above mentioned 'gang' who would probably be younger than my grandchildren!
"Some time I am supposed to have converted to Islam and some time to Christianity. Blatant lies which the sanghis are taught to spread during their training as their pracharaks. But I don't blame them or their parents but blame the sanskar imbibed in them at sanskar dham or at RSS shakhas," Singh said.
In the blog that begins with a question title "AM I ANTI HINDU?", Singh invites those who do not believe his claims about his devotion to the sanatan dharma to visit his house and cross check.
Singh says he hopes that all others who have been "wrongly influenced by the sangh propaganda" would try to understand him better.
"I know what I am saying is going to fall on deaf years of the motivated "sanghi gang". Nevertheless it is my duty to put it on record what I believe in.
"If you don't believe what I have claimed you are most welcome to be my guest at Raghogarh which is a 3 hours drive from Bhopal and cross check yourself," he says.
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'Veer Savarkar was vehemently against sanatan dharma'
Photographs: Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
Singh also attacked RSS ideologue Veer Savarkar, saying he belonged to Arya Samaj and was "vehemently against sanatan dharma".
Noting that his Guru Shankaracharya of Dwarka has been unable to explain the meaning of Hindutva, Singh said that he believes that the term was first used by "Veer Savarkar, a staunch Arya Samaji, who was vehemently against sanatan dharma".
"The intolerance of the Arya Samaj towards sanatan dharma is well known. The Arya Samaj does not even allow the use of its premises for religious rites as per sanatan dharam," he said.
Maintaining that he has been praying since 1969 when he was given Gayatri Mantra, keeps fast on all ekadashis and visits Pandharpur to pray at Vitho Ba's feet since last 21 years, Singh rues, "yet Sangh and BJP and their brigade call me anti-Hindu !"
He also said that daily worship at nine temples at his residence in Raghogarh has been going on for more than 14 generations and in four of them a permanent "jyoti" is lit round-the-clock and that he is also the chairman of a trust which is running a Ved Pathshala at Hanuman Temple.
While asking visitors to read his blog, he also tweeted, "I have been called anti-Hindu, pro Muslims and one who does anti-Hindu politics".
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