After the 'Jihad' comment, Patil now claims "I never said it"

New Delhi, Oct 21: A day after stoking a bizarre controversy by drawing link between 'Jihad' and 'Bhagawad Gita', senior Congress leader Shivraj Patil has given a clarification saying he never made the statement.

"In Hindu dharma, if you kill anyone who speaks the truth, that is jihad. If you kill Mahatma Gandhi, that is jihad. The act of killing is called jihad," ANI quoted him as saying.

"It is you who is calling it jihad. Would you call Krishna's lessons to Arjun jihad? No, that is what I said," he said. He also refused to apologise as he "never made the statement".

Patil said that he was just asking a question whether it was a "rightful fight against the oppressor like the fight in Mahabharata" will be called jihad as well. "It is nonsensical to say that I was equating the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita as jihad, I never said that," he added.

The Congress leader then accused the media of vilifying him. "I was asking a question and not making a statement, but the media is vilifying me," he added.

Speaking at the launch of Congress veteran and former Union minister Mohsina Kidwai's biography, Patil, on Thursday, said,"It is said there is a lot of discussion of Jihad in the religion of Islam. Even after all efforts, if someone doesn't understand clean idea, power can be used, it's mentioned in Quran & Gita... Shri Krishna taught lessons of Jihad to Arjun in a part of Gita in Mahabharat,"

"If after explaining everything, people are not understanding, they are coming with weapons then you cannot run, you cannot call that jihad and you cannot call it wrong, this is what must be understood, there should not be this concept of making people understand with weapons in hand," he further said as reported by news agency PTI.