Vice-president Venkaiah Naidu has cautioned against mixing religion with politics, saying religion was “personal” and a “way of worship.”
Venkaiah said politics should not get into religion and religion should not get into politics and added that “religion is personal…it is a way of worship…we may pray to Allah..we may pray to Jesus Christ… we may pray Rama.. Krishna…Sai Baba…Lord Ayyappa”.
“If we believe in vasudhaiva kutumbakam and the spirit of the country is to treat everybody equal, how can anyone discriminate against people on the basis of religion and caste,” Naidu asked.
Closing temples in the name of caste is “totally wrong” and against the dharma, culture and the visions of the country, he said.
The vice-president said social justice and inclusion were part of the genesis of independent India and “we couldn’t have had a really free nation with a sizable unfree population”.
