Controversy over Hindustan comment: BJP demands Pinarayi Vijayan's name changed

If Hindustan is communal, change your name first, BJP state president tells Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in response to the Communist leader's Mangalore speech in which he led a scathing attack on the Sangh Parivar. 

Alleging that Pinarayi Vijayan termed the word Hindustan as communal in his Manglore speech on Saturday, the BJP whipped up a controversy on Monday. "If the term Hindustan is communal, then Pinarayi Vijayan better change his (Hindu) name," BJP state president Kummanam Rajashekharan said. 

Even though the name Vijayan is a synonym of the  Arjuna, it instantly invokes the Lord Sreekrishna. Hence, Pinarayi should change his name since it is insulting for a Communist leader, Rajashekharan mocked. "It is easy to change your name than attempting to the change the name of the country. Especially because your party is not capable of doing that now," the BJP leader added. 

Vijayan's finding that Hindustan as communal term was born out of his ignorance of history. Even if he doesn't  know Indian history, he should have tried to learn the history of Indian Freedom struggle, Rajashekharan wrote on his Facebook page. 

When Karl Marx wrote about India, he called it Hindustan on many occasions. The Urdu translation of Marx's book 
 ' The Historic View of United India,' is titled  'Hindustan ki Tareekhi Khaka'. Besides, the organisation of Communist leader S A Dange was named Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan, Rajashekharan pointed out. 

The BJP leader also demanded an apology from Pinarayi Vijayan for allegedly insulting thousands of freedom fighters by calling Hindustan communal. 

In his Mangalore speech on Saturday, Pinarayi Vijayan launched a seething attack on the Sangh Parivar and politics of communalisation. Though the Sangh Parivar organisations had warned that they would not allow Vijayan to speak in Mangalore and called for a Hartal to protest the attacks on BJP workers in Kerala by the CPM, it did not affect the massive public rally attended by Kerala CM. In fact, the CPM rally at Mangalore gained national attention, thanks to the Sangh Parivar protest. 
 

• Pinarayi Vijayan's Mangalore speech
• Hindustan
• BJP
• Kummanam Rajashekharan
• Pinarayi Vijayan