Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut has stirred up fresh controversy by emphatically insisting that India is, was and will always be a Hindu nation.
Rubbishing the sharp criticism of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) patron Ashok Singhal for his "India will be a Hindu nation by 2020" remark, Raut told ANI, "What's the need to wait till 2020; India is already a Hindu nation. The increasing population is not going to change it. We do not expect the government to make any such declarations but the 100 crore Hindus of the country believe that it is a Hindu nation. India was, it is and it will remain a Hindu nation."
"I was at the Sai Baba Ashram where Sai Baba told me by 2020 the entire country will be Hindu and 2030 the entire world will be Hindu. I feel that revolution has started," Singhal had said at a function in New Delhi on Saturday.
He also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA Government has put an end to over 900 years of 'slavery' by Muslims.
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