Hindu Pakistan remark: Court issues arrest warrant against Tharoor

Kolkata, Aug 13: A Kolkata court on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant against senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor for his remarks that if voted to power again, the BJP will rewrite the Constitution and pave the way for creation of a "Hindu Pakistan".

The Kolkata metropolitan magistrate court issued the warrant against Tharoor based on a petition filed by lawyer Sumeet Chowdhary.

Speaking at an event in his constituency in July 2019, the Thiruvananthapram MP had said that the BJP would write a new Constitution which would pave the way for a nation, much like Pakistan, where rights of minorities were not respected.

"The new one will be the one which will enshrine the principles of Hindu Rashtra, that will remove equality for minorities, that will create a Hindu Pakistan and that is not what Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad and great heroes of freedom struggle fought for," he had said.

Tharoor's statement kicks up row

Tharoor's comments prompted cries for apology from Congress president Rahul Gandhi for the "attack on Indian democracy and Hindus".

"If they have been able to win a repeat of their current strength in the Lok Sabha, then frankly, our own democratic Constitution, as we understand, will not survive... because then they will have all the three elements they need to tear up the Constitution of India and write a new one.

"And that will enshrine the principle of Hindu Rashtra, that will remove equality for the minorities, and that will create a Hindu Pakistan...and that is not what Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad and great heroes of freedom struggle fought for," Tharoor told an event in Thiruvanthapuram