Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has said he has a problem when people use religion as an instrument to attack others, in an apparent reference to the violence against minority communities in the country. Tharoor, 61, said that his Hinduism is a very much accepting, open and liberal faith, which has never claimed to be the only true faith.

He told the Al Arabiya English that his belief has never said that one has to conform to a certain set of dictates or a litmus test to be saved. "As a Hindu, I feel most entitled to write about in my own faith, and my book I have described my Hinduism - perhaps a presumptuous phrase - but the Hinduism I grew up with, observed, learnt, care about and I say this is not the Hindutva ideology that our present ruling forces are propagating," he said, in reference to his recent book - Why I am a Hindu.

Religious violence or the wielding of religion as one's principal source of identity and therefore an instrument to attack others with is where he has a problem, he said in an apparent reference to the violence against minority groups in the country.

Tharoor, who has come out with the book on his understanding of Hindu religion, says he is not proud of those who suggest that only a Hindu --"and only a certain kind of Hindu -- can be an authentic Indian". Tharoor had earlier expressed concern about the misuse of Hindu religion, faith and identity for "very narrow minded political purposes".