BJP attacks Congress over UP appointments, questions Gandhi family's response to pilot Smit Machchhar

The BJP on Sunday attacked the Congress over its recent appointments in Uttar Pradesh and questioned the opposition party's top leadership over what it described as "silence" on Indian pilot Smit Machchhar, who thwarted his co-pilot's alleged attempt to crash a Tel Aviv-bound flydubai flight.

Addressing a press conference, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi criticised the Congress's appointment of Aradhana Mishra as the Uttar Pradesh unit president and Imran Masood as the working president.

Trivedi said the appointments reflected what he described as a growing gap between Mahatma Gandhi's legacy and the present-day Congress leadership.

He cited Masood's earlier controversial remark about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and alleged that Mishra had previously objected to party workers raising the slogan "Bharat Mata ki Jai".

"On the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, who is a symbol of peace and non-violence, Congress has appointed Imran Masood, who is infamous for his remark that he will 'chop Modi into pieces', as the party's Uttar Pradesh unit working president," Trivedi said.

The BJP leader also alleged that Mishra had once stopped Congress workers from raising the "Bharat Mata ki Jai" slogan and instead asked them to raise "Congress zindabad".

"This demonstrates how vast the gap has become between Mahatma Gandhi and the Gandhis of today," he said.

The Congress on Friday appointed Aradhana Misra-Mona as president of its Uttar Pradesh unit and named Masood as working president as part of a major organisational reshuffle ahead of the state Assembly polls next year.

Mona, daughter of Rajya Sabha MP Pramod Tiwari, replaced Ajay Rai, who had headed the UP Congress since August 2023.

The party also appointed Chaudhary Virendra Singh as Leader of the Congress Legislature Party in Uttar Pradesh. Mona had held the CLP leader's post until then.

Trivedi then turned his attack towards the Gandhi family over its alleged lack of public response to the incident involving Machchhar.

He alleged that the family's "silence" amounted to support for terrorism and demanded that Congress's top leadership respond.

Trivedi referred to Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi in personal attacks, alleging that they had previously spoken out on issues involving Gaza and the Palestinian cause but had not publicly praised Machchhar's actions.

He questioned why the Congress leadership had not spoken about the pilot's alleged bravery in saving the aircraft.

"I feel that the entire country should view the conduct of the Congress's top leadership very seriously," Trivedi said.

Machchhar was stabbed and seriously injured by his Omani co-pilot in the cockpit of flydubai flight FZ1073, which was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv with 174 people on board on Wednesday.

Despite being injured, Machchhar managed to prevent the aircraft from being brought down, according to the account cited in the BJP leader's remarks.