Bigotry being whipped up in India a political exercise, not actual spirit of Indians: Tharoor

Congress leader and author Shashi Tharoor said the "bigotry" that is being whipped up in recent years in India is essentially a "political exercise" and does not reflect the actual spirit of most of the people in the country.

He said Indians essentially have lived together for far too long to allow "periodic spasms" of bigotry or unpleasantness to derail it.

"What we are going through now is just an awful temporary phase," Tharoor said Thursday during a conversation titled 'India Sutra' held at the Jaipur Literature Festival, organised as part of Season of India at Asia Society.

"the kind of bigotry that we have seen whipped up in recent years is an essentially a political exercise and not to my mind in any way reflective of the actual spirit of most of the Indian people," he said.

On Hinduism, Tharoor, the author of 'Why I am a Hindu', said, "The wonderful fact is that in an era of uncertainty, of incertitude, you have uniquely a religion that privileges incertitude."