JAIPUR: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday stressed that Pakistan founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah has not won yet but if Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA and National Register of Citizens (NRC) are implemented in the country, it would be certainly his victory.
On being asked about his reported remark that CAA implementation would be the fulfilment of Muhammad Ali Jinnah's two-nation theory, Shashi Tharoor iterated that Jinnah has not won but he is winning given the intent of the contentious citizenship law. He explained that if CAA would lead to the National Population Register (NPR) and NRC that would pursue the same line as of Jinnah's.
"If NRC and CAA are implemented, you can say that Jinnah's victory is complete. From wherever Jinnah is, he would say he was right that Muslims deserve a separate nation because Hindus can't be just towards Muslims," stressed the Thiruvananthapuram MP, reported foreign media.
Speaking at a panel discussion in Jaipur Literature Festival earlier in the day, the Congress leader claimed that two-nation theory was first advocated by Hindutva ideologue Veer Savarkar. "The first advocate of the two-nation theory was actually VD Savarkar, as head of Hindu Mahasabha, who called upon India to recognise Hindus and Muslims as two separate nations, three years before Muslim League passed the Pakistan resolution in Lahore," said Tharoor. Shashi Tharoor is one of the most vocal critics of the CAA and NRC. The CAA continues to sharply divide opinions among masses as it provides citizenship to immigrants of six non-Muslim communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.