Accusing Narendra Modi government at the Centre of trying to spread religious fascism, former Uttarakhand Governor Aziz Qureshi today said it poses a serious threat to India's identity and its liberal ethos.
"Our democracy, our liberal philosophy is facing a danger today with Modi government trying to spread religious fascism. Modi calls himself a friend of the Hindus but what is being done in the name of Hinduism in the country today poses a serious threat to our identity as a nation," Qureshi told PTI.
Noting that liberalism lies at the core of Hindu philosophy, the former Uttarakhand governor said it was due to the liberalism of Hindu culture that India gave shelter even to those who attacked it in the past.
Qureshi who spends most of his time in Bhopal ever since his removal as governor of Mizoram after a brief eight-month tenure said the cow and the Ganga have always been close to his heart.
Accusing Modi government of claiming credit for things done by others, he said Mughal ruler Humayun was the first to ban cow slaughter in India.
"There is enough evidence of it in history books,"he claimed.
So far as the Ganga is concerned, Nehru family's attachment with the ancient river becomes clear when one reads Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru's will, he said.
Making a reference to the schemes launched by Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi for the cleaning of Ganga, he said all the BJP government at the centre is doing is claiming credit for things done by previous Congress governments.
On the issue of yoga he said he was against orthodoxy of all sorts.
"As a Seva Dal volunteer I sang Vande Mataram for years. But when some orthodox people redefined it, my self-respect was hurt. Again things like Surya Namaskar is integral to yoga are being said. I for one am opposed to Surya Namaskar but believe in yoga as a form of exercise," he said.
Qureshi was here to pay obeisance at Piran Kaliyar Sharif and to take a dip in the Ganga.
