Arrest warrant out for Shashi Tharoor over ‘Hindu Pakistan’ remark

BJP demands Congress leader issue an apology for trying to 'promote disharmony'


News Desk August 14, 2019
In this photograph taken on April 16, 2010 Shashi Tharoor addresses the media at parliament house in New Delhi. PHOTO: AFP

A court in India issued on Tuesday an arrest warrant for Congress leader Shashi Tharoor over his comment that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was trying to rewrite the constitution, paving the way for the creation of a "Hindu Pakistan."

According to The Hindu, the statement had sparked furore in the ruling BJP with the party now demanding an apology.

During a speech last year, Tharoor had said that BJP's return to power for the second term would pave the way for the creation of a "Hindu Pakistan."

Chief metropolitan magistrate Dipanjan Sen issued a bailable warrant against the Congress leader on a petition by lawyer Sumit Chowdhury, who claimed the statement promoted disharmony.

The politician and renowned writer has been vocal of his criticism of his government's decision to strip Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) of its special status, terming the move as "unconstitutional".

“This is not the Indian democracy we have cherished for more than seven decades,” the former Indian foreign minister had tweeted right after New Delhi's move to revoke Article 370 and enforce an information blockade in the Himalayan valley.

A raft of other prominent Indian opinion makers, ranging from politicians and journalists to legal experts to academics, joined the chorus of condemnation of what they unanimously agreed was an unconstitutional step.

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