Thiruvananthapuram, Jul 12(DC): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has said that if the BJP is re-elected in the 2019 national elections, rights of minorities would be trampled, making India a "Hindu Pakistan". The comment drew a severe rebuke from the BJP which demanded an apology from Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Addressing an event in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday, Tharoor also had said that the BJP will write a new constitution, making India less tolerant and inclusive.

"If they (BJP) win a repeat in the Lok Sabha our democratic constitution as we understand it will not survive as they will have all the elements they need to tear apart the constitution of India and write a new one," he said.

"That new one will be the one which will enshrine principles of Hindu Rashtra, that will remove equality for minorities, that'll create a Hindu Pakistan and that isn't what Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad and great heroes of freedom struggle fought for," he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Lashing out at the comments, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra, said, "Rahul Gandhi must apologise for what Shashi Tharoor said. Congress was responsible for creation of Pakistan because of its ambitions yet again it has gone ahead to demean India and defame Hindus of India."