"Jayalalithaa Backed Ram Mandir, Scrapping Of Article 370": Tamil Nadu BJP Chief

Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai on Monday called J Jayalalithaa, former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and AIADMK supremo, a Hindutva leader and claimed that she wanted the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and was also in the support of constructing Ram Temple.

While speaking with ANI, K Annamalai said, "I think they (AIADMK) all have to get education on what Hindutva is. I think Jayalalithaa would have been extremely angry with them for the AIADMK's definition of Hindutva."

Annamalai also talked about Jayalalithaa and asserted that she wanted the scrapping of Article 370 in Kashmir. He said, "Jayalalithaa wanted Article 370 to be abolished... She supported the Uniform Civil Code, she wanted Ram Setu to be declared a national monument."

Annamalai added further, "She said the dismissal of BJP government in states over Babri Masjid demolition was wrong. She was a person who made AIADMK cadres to get 20 lakh signatures for the building of the Ram Temple. She was a person who wanted Ram Temple to be built. She also went one step further. She said that if you don't build a Ram Temple here, are you going to build it in Pakistan? If this is not Hindutva, then what is Hindutva?"

The BJP State President also quoted the Supreme Court's judgment on Hindutva and said, "The SC judgment of Hindutva is very clear. It is a way of life. That judgment is still in operation for 29 years... Hindutva in our country means inclusive. It takes everybody along and it is a way of life. That is Hindutva."

K Annamalai went on to defend his remarks on Jayalalithaa and said, "What is wrong in my saying that the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Jayalalithaa is a great Hinduist?"

Speaking about Hindutva, Annamalai asserted that Hindutva means that you are not against anybody.

"You are for the culture of this land. The culture of this land is a Hindutva way of life... Hindutva has always accepted people. Hindutva has never discriminated anybody," he said.

Targeting AIADMK, he said, "Forget judgment; for thousands of years, we know what is Hindutva... But if AIADMK still wants to do minority appeasement, then god save them."

After the Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992, P V Narasimha Rao had dismissed the BJP state governments in Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan in 1993.

Jayalalithaa, in 1998, brought the AIADMK into the national coalition government of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), with which the party has now severed ties.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)