New Delhi: Amid ongoing debate over intolerance in India, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Thursday said that Mughal empire allowed both Hindus and Sanatan Dharma to grow.

In an interview to The Hindu, Singh said, “By and large, if you examine the Mughal rule in India, you will see that they have allowed the Hindus to grow; they have allowed Sanatan Dharam to grow. If they wanted to turn this nation into an Islamic nation, they could have done that because they ruled this country for almost 500 years. But they did not do it.”

Against the backdrop of hate crimes against minorities in India, Singh said that Akbar had appointed Hindu generals and advisers.

“If you see the nine great people around Akbar, you will find most of them were Hindus,” The Hindu quoted him as saying.

Accusing the BJP of supporting the fanatic elements among Hindus, Singh said, “The BJP takes full advantage of these people to create the polarisation but once they do it they loose control over them. It is like a Genie, which once taken out of a bottle is difficult to put back in. So the genie of the communalism is something which we are all scared of. That is why we want this issue of intolerance to be debated.”

He further went on to say that the BJP and RSS are pitting Hindus against Muslims.