New Delhi: Amid the row over the 'I Love Muhammad' campaign, the Congress on Sunday highlighted the syncretic cultural tradition of India and asserted that there is nothing wrong with people expressing love for their God and prophet.
Congress's media and publicity department head, Pawan Khera, said that in a harmonious country that has seen the tradition of mystic saint Meerabai and Sufism, such "dwarves" have come who see an enemy of our rich cultural tradition in a seven-year-old boy.
"They killed and then hung the body of a seven-year-old because he is from another religion. What harm could that seven-year-old cause to our cultural heritage?" Khera said in a video statement.
"You say in a market in Indore that Muslims should be pushed out. Our culture is so vast, and you find these working-class Muslims a danger. If someone says I love Muhammad, you have a problem with it. If that person loves his or her prophet, you should love that person," Khera said.
The Congress leader said people love their Gods and prophets, and they should.
"What is wrong with this? If these dwarfs would have been there, would this have become the cradle of civilisation, would this have been called the mother of civilisations," Khera said, in an apparent swipe at the BJP.
"I can't leave my culture and country in the hands of these dwarves. I love Muhammad, I love Mahadev, I love Jesus Christ, I love Nanak Dev, I love India," he said.
Tensions erupted in several districts of Uttar Pradesh recently, including Barabanki, Mau and Muzaffarnagar, after violent protests in Bareilly over the 'I Love Muhammad' campaign after Friday prayers, with police carrying out overnight house-to-house raids to nab the "culprits", arresting Tauqeer Raza in the process.