Jinnah row: In Lahore, Mani Shankar Aiyar says first proponent of two-nation theory was Savarkar

Suspended Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on Monday raked up a controversy by attributing the two nation theory to Hindu Mahasabha founder VD Savarkar.

According to news agency ANI, Aiyar targeted the ruling BJP saying V D Sawarkar is the ideological guru of "those who are currently in power in India".

Amid the row over Muhammad Ali Jinnah's portrait at the Aligarh Muslim University, Aiyar said that Savarkar was the one who invented the term Hindutva and tried to divide people on religious lines.

"Present situation in India is an aberration, In 1923 a man called VD Savarkar invented a word which doesn't exist in any religious text, 'Hindutva'. So the first proponent of the two nation theory was an ideological guru of those who are currently in power in India," Aiyar reportedly said in Lahore.

Responding to the attack by BJP for admiring Jinnah, Aiyar clarified, "I referred to Jinnah as the Quaid e Azam and the hysterical Indian TV anchors are demanding to know how an Indian can go to Pakistan and say this. I know many Pakistanis who called MK Gandhi as Mahatma Gandhi, does that make them unpatriotic Pakistanis?".

Last week, Aiyar was flayed by the BJP after he lauded Pakistan founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah amidst the growing clamour over a portrait of Jinnah hanging on the wall of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).

In the past he said that he received more hatred in India than love in Pakistan.

Aiyyar was suspended from primary membership of the Grand Old Party after he called PM Modi "neech aadmi during the electoral campaign in Gujarat Assembly elections..