Naqvi attacks ex-VP Hamid Ansari over 'cultural nationalism' comments

New Delhi: In an apparent attack at former vice president M. Hamid Ansari for his comments on 'cultural nationalism' at an event on Wednesday, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Thursday said it was the same 'cultural nationalism' and Hindu traditions that keep India secular.

Ansari at 'Special Congressional Briefing on Protecting India's Pluralist Constitution', organised by a group of 17 US organisations – including the Indian-American Muslim Council (IAMC), said a new trend and practices have emerged in India which interpose the practice of cultural nationalist instead of civic nationalism.

"In recent years, we have experienced the emergence of trends and practises that dispute the well established principle of civic nationalism, and interposes a new and imaginary practice of cultural nationalism," Ansari said at the event.

“These trends need to be contested legally and contested politically," he said.

Naqvi, without naming Ansari, called it an attack on India by a person who has held a constitutional post. He also said the organisers of the event were linked to Pakistani intelligence agency ISI.

"Yesterday, when the country was celebrating its independence, people were unfurling the national flag with full passion and enthusiasm at Lal Chowk in Kashmir, at that time, a conspiracy to defame India was being spread all over the world from the platform of an institution involved in conspiracies to tarnish the image of our country by a person sitting on a constitutional post of our country," Navi said at a press conference at the BJP headquarters.

"It is the cultural nationalism which makes us secular. Tolerance is our culture," he said.

"Their obsession with Modi bashing has become India bashing. It should be condemned by everyone," he said.

The Tripura government, in an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court about recent communal violence in the state, had accused IAMC of having links with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and other extremist outfits.

A statement on the event released by IAMC on Wednesday said a United States Senator and three Members of the United States Congress have condemned the escalating violations of human rights, civil and political liberties, and religious freedom under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rule.

The statement named US Senator Ed Markey, US Congressman Jim McGovern, Andy Levin, and Jamie Raskin among those who criticised the Modi government. (UNI)