VHP attacks former VP Hamid Ansari over remarks on Hindu right-wing
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New Delhi: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has launched a sharp verbal assault on former Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari, accusing him of peddling a “Hindu-hating, Nehruvian and radical” worldview after he warned of the dangers posed by Hindu right-wing communalism.
VHP national spokesperson Vinod Bansal said Ansari, before branding the Hindu majority a threat to the country, ought to have examined his own conduct in public life. In a post on X, Bansal pointed to Ansari’s attendance at events linked to the Popular Front of India during his tenure as vice president and alleged a pattern of actions “sabotaging national interests” during his diplomatic career. “Today you are lecturing Hindus on communalism? Remember, if Hindus were truly communal, you would not have had the audacity to make such a statement,” he wrote.
The row traces back to a Saturday event at the India Islamic Cultural Centre, organised to honour constitutional scholar A.G. Noorani. Speaking on trends he said were eroding civic nationalism, Ansari recalled a remark attributed to Jawaharlal Nehru: that the “real danger to India is not communism, but Hindu right-wing communalism”. He said the comment was made in a meeting of Ministry of External Affairs officers, noted by former foreign secretary Jagat Singh Gundevia, and later reproduced by Noorani in his 2019 book, The RSS: A Menace to India.
Bansal seized on Ansari’s past criticism of the Ayodhya verdict on the Ram Janmabhoomi dispute, arguing that India already hosted the largest number of mosques globally. “You previously criticised the historic verdict on Shri Ram Janmabhoomi, and now, by making baseless rants against Hindu society, you are once again revealing your radical mindset,” he alleged.
Describing Ansari’s outlook as “anti-India” and hostile to Hindus, the VHP leader urged him to abandon what he termed a “Nehruvian, Jinnah-ite” approach and show gratitude for the “position, respect, money and prestige” conferred by the country. “Next time, before lecturing others, it would be better if you looked at your own reflection in the mirror,” Bansal added.
