Hamid Ansari said after Independence, as the politics of the country changed, someone had to be blamed. "So Muslims became the scapegoat and were blamed for Partition." (File photo)

Former Vice President Hamid Ansari is once again in the eye of a storm for a comment that he purportedly made on the Partition. Speaking at an event, Ansari said Pakistan alone was not responsible for the Partition and that India was equally responsible for it.

"We are not ready to accept that we are equally responsible for the division," he said according to a report by news agency ANI.

"While people like to believe that people across the border (Pakistan) or the British were responsible for India's partition, no one wants to admit that India and Indians were equally responsible for it," he reportedly said.

Referring to a speech delivered by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's on August 11, 1947, four days before India got its independence, Ansari said in that speech, Patel had said "he took these extreme steps after great deliberation".

Ansari claimed that Patel in this speech also said that "despite his previous opposition to Partition, he was convinced that to keep India united, it must be divided".

He said these speeches are available in Patel's records.

"But as politics of the country changed, someone had to be blamed. So Muslims became the scapegoat and were blamed for Partition," Ansari said.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janta Party has hit out at Ansari. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra demanded an apology from Ansari for his comments.