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Bengaluru: Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge has claimed that the concept of two nations in India was first articulated by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, much before it was adopted by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the Muslim League.

In a post on X, Information Technology and Biotechnology Minister said, “The idea of Two Nations was first floated by ‘Veer’ Savarkar and his ‘tukde tukde gang’ endorsed it”.

He traced the sequence of events, referring to Savarkar’s writings and speeches.

“In ‘Essentials of Hindutva’ (written in 1922), Savarkar defines Hindutva not by religion, but by homeland, India as both ‘Fatherland and Holyland’,” he stated.

Kharge pointed out that during the Hindu Mahasabha’s 19th session in Ahmedabad in 1937, Savarkar had said, “There are two antagonistic nations living side by side in India. India cannot be assumed today to be a unitarian and homogenous nation. On the contrary there are two nations in the main: the Hindus and the Moslems, in India.”

He further cited Savarkar’s remarks in 1943 at Nagpur: “I have no quarrel with Mr Jinnah’s two-nation theory. We, Hindus, are a nation by ourselves, and it is a historical fact that Hindus and Muslims are two nations.”

Questioning whether the BJP acknowledges this history, Kharge quoted B R Ambedkar’s observation, “Strange as it may appear, Mr Savarkar and Mr Jinnah, instead of being opposed to each other, on the one nation versus two nations issue are in complete agreement about it. Both not only agree, but insist that there are two nations in India — one the Muslim nation and the other Hindu nation. They differ only as regards the terms and conditions on which the two nations must live.”

Kharge, son of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, made the remarks on Partition Horrors Remembrance Day, highlighting ideological links between Hindutva leaders and the two-nation theory.

The post drew sharp responses from users on the platform.