New Delhi [India], December 22 : Reacting to the statement of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Chief Mohan Bhagwat that India is a "Hindu nation", All India Imam Association (AIIA) President Maulana Sajid Rashidi said that the day India becomes a Hindu rashtra, that day the Constitution will be over.
Speaking to ANI, Maulana Sajid Rashidi said, "He does not know that a Hindu rashtra can only be a slogan. Those who are singing the praises of the Hindu nation want to crush the constitution. India does not belong to a perticular religion, it belongs to 140 crore people. If there is a Hindu kingdom, then the constitution of India will die. We see that all the Islamic countries, where the principles of the Quran are followed, are not democratic countries. It becomes a religious country."
He further said that in Dubai, which consists of 8 percent Hindu population, they are safe, in Oman, the Hindu population, which comprises 5 percent is safe, in Saudi Arabia, the Hindu population, which comprises 15 percent is safe.
He asked that in India, the population of Hindus is 80 per cent, so how could they be in danger.
"Telling Hindus that they are in danger is just the politics of the vote bank... I believe that RSS is a big organisation. Its leaders should talk very thoughtfully... The day this country becomes a Hindu rashtra, that day the constitution will be over," he further stated.
Earlier, addressing an event marking 100 years of the RSS on Sunday, Bhagwat said that India is, and will remain, a Hindu nation until Indian culture is appreciated in the country.
"The Sun rises in the east; we don't know since when this has been happening. So, do we need constitutional approval for that too? Hindustan is a Hindu nation. Whoever considers India their motherland appreciates Indian culture, as long as there is even one person alive on the land of Hindustan who believes in and cherishes the glory of Indian ancestors, India is a Hindu nation. This is the ideology of the Sangh," he said at the '100 Vyakhyan Mala' program of RSS in Kolkata.
"If Parliament ever decides to amend the Constitution and add that word, whether they do it or not, it's fine. We don't care about that word because we are Hindus, and our nation is a Hindu nation. That is the truth. The caste system based on birth is not the hallmark of Hindutva," he added.
RSS has always argued that India is a "Hindu Nation," given the culture and majority's affiliations to Hinduism. However, 'secular' was not originally part of the Preamble of the Constitution, but it was added along with the word 'socialist' by the Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976, during the Emergency imposed by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Bhagwat also urged people to visit the organisation's offices and 'shakhas' to understand its work, so that the false perception of the organisation as "anti-Muslim" can be dispelled.