Congress MP Shashi Tharoor hit out at the Modi government over the spike in incidents of lynching deaths in the country since the 2014 elections.

Speaking at an event in Pune on Sunday, Shashi Tharoor said, "What have we seen in last 6 years? It started with the killing of Mohsin Shaikh in Pune. Then Mohd Akhlaq was killed saying he is carrying beef. But it was reported later that it was not beef. Even if it was beef who gave anyone the right to kill a person?"

Tharoor went on to add, "Is this our Bharat? Is this what Hindu Dharam says? I am a Hindu but not of this kind. Also, while killing people, they are asked to say 'Jai Sri Ram'. It is an insult to Hindu Dharma. It is an insult to Lord Ram that people are being killed using his name."

"Also, Pehlu Khan had the licence to carry cow in a lorry for dairy farming, but he was also lynched. One election result gave so much power to such people that they do anything and kill anyone," said Shashi Tharoor.

Earlier on Saturday, while speaking at the Pune International Literary Festival, Tharoor said that India is now a country with just "black or white" as choices and no space in between for tolerance. He blamed this "polarisation" of politics on the actions and choices of the "ruling party".

Speaking at a session titled 'Truly Yours', the author of the book "Why I Am A Hindu" went on to state that there was "no Hindu way", though there is "my or his or her" Hindu way.

I can worship Ram, I read Hanuman Chalisa, therefore I am a Hindu...but suddenly if someone says I do nothing of these things and I am still a Hindu, then they both are right, and this the BJP and Sangh Parivar have not understood," Tharoor said.