Charging the Congress with changing its colours on the Citizenship issue, the BJP on Friday asked Congress president Sonia Gandhi not to teach it ‘raj dharma’ and accused the Opposition party of instigating communal violence in northeast Delhi and flouting the Constitution.
Union Law Minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad hit out at the Opposition party a day after the Congress leaders, led by Sonia Gandhi, met President Ram Nath Kovind and submitted a memorandum demanding resignation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah for “abdication of duty” during the communal violence in northeast Delhi. She had also reminded the Centre for its ‘rajdharma’ and protecting the people from all faiths in the country.
“Sonia Gandhi don’t preach Rajdharma. see your own face in mirror of your rajdharma,” the law minister asserted adding their record is “full of twists and turns”.
Prasad reminded Congress that its leaders Jawahar Lal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad , Indira and Rajiv Gandhi had openly taken a stand in favour of Indian minorities and cited the example of Indira’s intervention for Indians in Uganda, Rajiv for Tamils and Manmohan Singh favouring Citizenship bill for minorities in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
He said the incumbent Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and then Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi wrote to then Home Minister Shivraj Patil on the citizenship issue. Why are you becoming a turncoat now ? What kind of Rajdharma is it,” Prasad asked.
Prasad wondered why Congress was opposing a legislation which it backed but could not complete the process when it was in the saddle at the centre.
He accused Sonia of provoking the Delhi situation by saying “ Is paar ya us paar, faisla lena hai” at the Ramleela Ground rally in Delhi in last December. Is this not provocation and not “drifting from the Constitution,” he wondered.
Similarly, as against Congress opposition to National Population Register (NPR), he recalled the Manmohan Singh government’s notification on the issue in 2010. Prasad said CAA was passed as per Constitutional provisions but the Congress was now arousing passions on the issue. “Ap karein to theek, hum karein to nahin,” the BJP leader said.
He accused Congress leaders of instigating those in the sit-in protest at Shaheen Bagh against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Rubbishing the Congress President’s demand for union home minister’s resignation, BJP leader said Shah was very proactive from the very first day of the violence to stop it.
Asked about controversial remarks made by the BJP leaders like Kapil Mishra and Pravesh Verma, Prasad said the party doesn’t approve such statements. He said a Special Investigation Team has been formed to “probe all angles” of Delhi violence. On inaction from the police, the law minister said police administration will answer this and responsibility will be fixed.
Prasad again dismissed speculation on Delhi High court judge S Muralidhar’s transfer out of Delhi saying this was decided by the Supreme Court Collegium with the judge’s consent on February 12. There are around a dozen such transfers, he said.
“ This is a government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh , myself, and likes of Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj who fought against Emergency for independence of judiciary and media,” he said while asking Congress leaders not to teach BJP its “rajdharma’.
The Union minister alleged that the Congress could stoop to any level for “vote-bank” politics, adding that it should act responsibly for maintaining peace and harmony in country. “For Congress, the party and the family comes before the country,” he alleged.
