In the light of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s public proclamation that he is a Gandhi and not Savarkar to apologise for his ‘rape-in-India’ barb, the BJP on Sunday asked him to drop his surname as it was “stolen” by his family for political gains. The party’s riposte came a day after the former Congress president, in a public rally here, refused to apologise for his “rape in India” remark saying he is not “Rahul Savarkar”.
Addressing a Press conference on Sunday, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had called Savarkar “son of soil”, while her grandson was referring to him in a derogatory note. “They stole the Gandhi name for political gains. He should give up the name of Gandhi. You (Rahul Gandhi) are a political deserter,” Patra alleged.
On Saturday , Rahul has stressed on his surname and unleashed a barb that he was a Gandhi and not a ‘savarkar’ to apologise and would rather “die” than seeking forgiveness. Congress leader had earlier come under the BJP’s attack for his “rape-in-India” comment at a public rally in Jharkhand.
Rahul had made the comment saying the Modi-Government’s “Make-in-India” has rather turned into “rape-in-India”, indicating spate of rape cases in the country. A furious BJP had sought an apology from Rahul with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in Lok Sabha saying the comment was unbecoming of a member of Parliament.
An unapologetic Rahul responded saying he has not done anything wrong and blamed the BJP Government for not protecting women and ruining country’s economy.
In a counter attack, BJP has now accused Rahul of hiding behind his surname Gandhi and seeking to attack a patriot like Savarkar and demanded that he gave up his surname that the family has Rs stolenRs .