Those who are born, eat and drink in India should be called ‘Hindu’: Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad

The Kerala governor made the remark while inaugurating the 'Hindu conclave' organised by Malayalee Hindus settled in North America, in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday.

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan has said that the word ‘Hindu’ is a geographical term and that those who are born in India, eat and drink in the country should be called ‘Hindu’.

The Kerala governor made the remark while inaugurating the ‘Hindu conclave’ organised by Malayalee Hindus settled in North America, in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday.

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“Sir Syed Ahmed Khan once said that I do not think Hindu is a religious term, it is a geographical term. Anyone who is born in India eats food grown in India or drinks water from Indian rivers deserves to be called a Hindu,” he said.

“You must call me a Hindu… It was perfectly fine to use terminologies like Hindu, Muslim and Sikh during the colonial era because the Britishers had made the communities as the basis for deciding even the ordinary rights of citizens,” he said.

Kerala governor earlier slammed the BBC documentary, and said that those who wanted to see India in a hundred pieces are upset, so they indulge in such negative propaganda.

“Those who predicted darkness for India, those who said that India will be divided into hundreds of pieces, they feel upset and that is why you see all these conspiracies where this kind of negative propaganda is run. They are making such documentaries and indulging in different propaganda. Why don’t they make a documentary of the time when the British came to India,” said Kerala Governor Arif Muhammad.

He said that India was not a poor country. “That is why people from outside came to India because of its fabulous wealth. But by 1947, we almost became the icon of poverty in South Asia. But Now everything has changed,” he said.

“Today multinational companies are being headed by people of Indian origin and the world is realising the potential of India. The world knows from our history that if we are powerful, then nobody can threaten us. We have never used these powers to dominate over others rather we believe in the potential divinity of man and woman,” he added.

Notably, UK’s British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) aired a two-part series attacking PM Modi’s tenure as Gujarat Chief Minister during the Gujarat riots of 2002. The documentary sparked outrage and was removed from select platforms.