'Jinnah took two-nation theory from Savarkar:' Harish Rawat rips BJP apart

At the same time, senior Congress leader Yashpal Arya distanced himself from Rawat's statement. In response to a media query, he said, 'Partition happened, but those pages of history are bygone. Today India is a symbol of equality of all religions."

Haridwar:Congress leader and former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Harish Rawat took a swipe at the BJP saying the formation of Pakistan was possible for the saffron party as Muhammad Ali Jinnah took the idea of two nation theory from saffron ideologue Veer Savarkar.

He was addressing party workers at a membership drive event in Haridwar on Sunday. "Veer Savarkar was the first to talk about a separate country (Pakistan) for Muslims and BJP considers Savarkar as its favorite. Muhammad Ali Jinnah had taken the word Pakistan from Savarkar. Jinnah's ideology was close to Savarkar's as far as the issue of partition of India is concerned," Rawat said.

At the same time, senior Congress leader Yashpal Arya distanced himself from Rawat's statement. In response to a media query, he said, 'Partition happened, but those pages of history are bygone. Today India is a symbol of equality of all religions. India does not belong to one community, one religion, and one caste."

Meanwhile, the Congress, which is looking to defeat the BJP in the coming assembly polls, is going ahead with a slew of membership drive programmes across the state. Sunday's event was organised by Congress's Jwalapur MLA Ravi Bahadur in Haridwar where Rawat was the chief guest. Hundreds of youth of Haridwar took membership in Congress at the event.

Rawat while addressing the new members of Congress, exhorted the new party members to not take the Lok Sabha elections 2024 lightly. "All the members should focus on helping the Congress win the 2024 Lok Saba polls," he said.