Asserting that the editor of the Urdu daily and Congress minority cell chief have confirmed Congress president Rahul Gandhi having said that Congress was the party of Muslims, the BJP on Monday said this was yet another example of the grand old party’s “communal and divisive politics”. The BJP asked Rahul to come clean on the issue.
Attacking Congress, senior BJP leader and Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said the history of Pakistan is a testimony to the Congress policy of appeasement and the same is being done by it now. “This is the Congress all about and it is exposed..”, he said here at a press conference.
He said Congress MP Shashi Tharoor talks about India turning into Hindu-Pakistan without knowing the Indian ethos and its history. Javadekar said that the “divisive” politics of the Congress party has damaged the country.
BJP leader said in the past while former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh maintained that the first right to natural resources belonged to Muslims, former home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde in the Congress regime sought to release all Muslim youths arrested in terror cases.
Citing the 1984 Sikh riots, Bhagalpur riots and Shahbano alimony case, the Minister described the Congress as the “worst communal party” in the country. Javadekar said what Rahul said was against the spirit of the Constitution. He said despite denial of the Congress, the editor of Urdu paper ‘Inquilab’ which interviewed Congress president and Congress minority cell chief Nadeem Javed have confirmed that the comments (‘Congress being party of Muslims’) were made by Rahul.
He demanded that Rahul clarifies his comments.
Rahul’s purported comments were on Saturday quoted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing a public rally in Azamgarh (East UP) where he sought to know why Congress was leaving out Muslim women by blocking triple-talaq Bill in the Upper house.
On Sunday, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said Rahul became a “janeyudhari” and flaunted his Brahmin lineage when he went to Gujarat and Karnataka for election campaigns. After the polls, he is patronising Muslims, he said.
The BJP and Congress run-ins on the issue are a precursor to the Monsoon session which would take off on Wednesday and last for 18 sittings.