Getting back at the Congress on its president Mallikarjun Kharge's jibe that while his party helped the country get independence, the ruling party did not lose even a "dog" for the nation, the BJP on Tuesday claimed that the present Congress is not the "original" one but "Italian Congress" .
"This is not the original Congress. We all know how it treated leaders like Subhas Chandra Bose, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Sardar Patel who were in the original Congress. This is an Italian Congress led by some other people," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi told reporters here in an apparent reference to the opposition party's president Sonia Gandhi's country of birth. Joshi strongly condemned Kharge's comments and claimed that the opposition party was wrong in claiming the legacy of freedom movement as Mahatma Gandhi had said after independence that Congress should be disbanded.
"This is a bogus Congress full of bogus leaders. Their president is a rubber stamp," Joshi alleged, targeting Kharge. At a rally in Rajasthan on Monday, Kharge claimed that while Congress stood for the country and helped attain Independence after its leaders gave supreme sacrifices, "not even a dog of BJP was lost" for the country. PNS
He had also alleged that the BJP government "talks like a lion but acts like a mouse" as it is not taking on China for indulging in incursions along the border and is running away from a debate on the issue in Parliament.
Union minister Kiren Rijiju accused Kharge of using "abusive" language and said this is how politicians become a subject of ridicule in people's minds. "One cannot believe that he can stoop so low," the BJP leader told reporters.
Another Union minister Ashwani Kumar Choubey said such petty comments will sink the Congress and noted that its leader Rahul Gandhi had also used "demeaning" language against armed forces. "With comments like these, the Bharat Jodo Yatra will turn out to be 'shav yatra' (funeral procession) of the opposition party," he said.