In a sharp riposte to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who charged the ruling party with “spreading communal prejudice and hatred,” the BJP on Thursday described her comment as “cheap politics”. The BJP demanded that she immediately tender an apology for her “irresponsible comments” which would “encourage communal feeling and hatred”.
Senior BJP leaders and Union Ministers Prakash Javadekar and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said it was unbecoming of the Congress leader to make such comments when the entire country is fighting coronavirus pandemic unitedly.
“We are not creating communal divisions. We are unitedly fighting Covid-19. We request them not to do cheap politics. They must not indulge in small politics,” Javadekar said, shortly after Sonia took on the ruling party.
BJP’s national spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain demanded that Sonia should immediately take back her statement which is aimed at “encouraging communalism” and an attempt to distract attention from violent incidents in the Congress-ruled States like Maharashtra. He was obviously referring to the killing of religious men in Maharashtra’s Palghar region.
Shahnawaz alleged that the Congress was “sowing seeds of communal poison” and asked why the Congress was not demanding its Government to come clean on the killings in Maharashtra. Why Sonia did not condemn the incident?” the BJP leader asked.
The BJP spokesperson sought an immediate apology from the Congress leader for making “irresponsible” charges. He said the Congress did not condemn an attack on a senior mediaperson by alleged Congress attackers.
Naqvi also dismissed Congress president’s charges as those made without giving much thought to the issue. Talking about Sonia raising questions over lesser tests being conducted Naqvi said, “Few people have a habit of asking questions all the time whereas everybody is working hard to keep Indians healthy”.
He said the country is successfully battling out the pandemic under the spirited leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.