BJP on Tuesday alleged a nexus between the Congress party and behind-the-scenes hate-mongers against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The party hit out at the Congress for protesting against the arrest of activist Teesta Setalvad saying they were working as part of a "poisonous ecosystem" where one offender protects another if anyone is caught.
Taking a dig at Congress and asking “Ye rista kya kahlata hain” for the opposition party joining the protest against Setalvad's arrest, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia accused it of opposing judicial actions as per its convenience.
In the backdrop of the Supreme Court’s clean-chit to Modi and 62 others in the 2002 Gujarat riots case, he asked if the opposition party has any faith in the judiciary or not. He said Setalvad did not know the content of “false affidavits” she filed in Gujarat riot cases as they were tailored to suit the designs of the political masters. Attacking Setalvad, Bhatia said despite objections by NCERT, the Congress-led- UPA government gave Rs 1.40 crore to Setalvad’s trust which she allegedly used for her own comforts and foreign travels.
Pointing –out that the Gujarat Police action against Setalvad was following the Supreme Court's strong denunciation of her and others for "keeping the pot boiling" and levelling false charges against people, including Prime Minister , over the 2002 riots in the state, Bhatia alleged that she had been acting at the behest of the Congress to end Modi's political career. "Setalvad was a small branch for fanning communal hate.
Its headquarters was in the Congress and its president Sonia Gandhi was the CEO," he told a press conference. Citing the recent agitation of the Congress against its leader Rahul Gandhi's questioning by the Enforcement Directorate in the National Herald case, he said for some people Gandhi is innocent until proven guilty but their standard for Modi is that he is guilty even if proven innocent.
"This hypocrisy will not be tolerated," he said. To questions about journalist Zubair Ahmed's arrest and opposition leaders' protest against it, he said one cannot become a fact-checker only by proclaiming himself to be one.
He has a chequered past and has posted tweets which have hurt religious feelings of a large section of Hindu society, Bhatia said. All major opposition parties and media organisations have condemned Zubair's arrest on Monday by the Delhi Police for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through one of his tweets, officials said.
The Editors Guild of India on Tuesday termed it "extremely disturbing" and demanded his immediate release. Criticising Zubair, Bhatia said if somebody is doing fact-checking, then he can't be selective.
If he posts content which suits some political party or a community, then he is not objective, Bhatia claimed. If protests against Zubair's arrest are linked with similar criticism of action against Setalvad, then it is clear that there is a "poisonous" ecosystem, the BJP spokesperson said.