A full-blown controversy has erupted over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charge about Pakistan’s “hand” in the Gujarat Assembly elections. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi on Monday launched a scathing attack on Modi over his “dangerous” insinuation and sought his apology. This prompted Union Minister Arun Jaitley to accuse the Congress leadership of committing “a misadventure” by defying the national line by meeting Pakistani diplomats and demanded to know the context, relevance and necessity of such a meet. Jaitley also rejected demand for the PM’s apology.
Addressing an election rally in Palanpur in Gujarat on Sunday, Modi had hinted that Pakistan was trying to influence the Assembly polls in Gujarat. He claimed that some Pakistani officials and Manmohan Singh met at Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar’s house over dinner on December 6. This was held a day before Aiyar’s “neech” jibe against Modi, and the PM said it was a serious matter and demanded that the Congress must explain what was the agenda of the meeting.
In a statement, Manmohan Singh said the PM was setting a “dangerous precedent” with his “ill-thought transgression” and asked him to apologise to the nation. Rejecting Modi’s charge as “innuendos and falsehoods”, Singh said he was deeply pained by the Prime Minister’s “ill thought transgression”. The former PM also listed those who attended the dinner and stressed that the Gujarat election was not discussed during the meeting. The dinner was hosted by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar for Pakistan’s former Foreign Minister Kurshid Kasuri here.
Besides ex-PM, former Vice-President Hamid Ansari, the Pakistan High Comm-issioner, Congress leader Natwar Singh, KS Bajpai, Ajai Shukla, Sharad Sabharwal, Gen Deepak Kapoor, TCA Raghavan, Satinder K lambah, MK Bhadrakumar, CR Gharekhan, Prem Shankar Jha, Salman Haider and Rahul Khushwant Singh were present at the meeting. “None of them could be accused of indulging in any anti-national activities,” he said.
At a Press conference at North-Block, Jaitley said, “There has always been continuity in India’s foreign policy and the steps taken by the Congress by holding such meetings is a completely a misadventure. Despite having done that you expect the Prime Minister to apologise for flagging the issue.”
Jaitley pointedly referred to Sharm el-Sheikh controversy in 2009 in Egypt when the UPA Government allegedly accepted that Baluchistan — the Pakistani territory — should not be used for terrorism. “It was a similar misadventure,” Jaitley said.
Union law Ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad too jumped into the controversy. Asking Pakistan to stop giving sermons to India, he said the neighbouring country seemed to be attempting to bail out the Congress party and asserted that Indians are capable of contesting elections in the country’s democracy on their own.
Prasad’s riposte came after Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal tweeted: “India should stop dragging Pakistan into its electoral debate and win victories on own strength rather than fabricated conspiracies, which are utterly baseless and irresponsible.”
Rahul Gandhi also took a swipe at Modi for talking about Pakistan, China, Afghanistan and Japan in the Gujarat elections but avoiding speaking about his home State. Modi’s alliance partner Shiv Sena too accused the PM of resorting to “histrionics” and pulling the ongoing poll campaign for the Gujarat elections to “a new low”.
Dissident BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha took to Twitter and posted tweets without naming anyone in particular, however did not leave much room for doubt. “Hon’ble Sir! Just to win elections anyhow, and that too at the fag end of the process, is it a must to come up with & endorse new, unsubstantiated & unbelievable stories everyday against political opponentsIJ” tweeted the 72-year-old actor-politician.
Manmohan Singh said, “Fearing imminent defeat in Gujarat, desperation of Prime Minister to hurl every abuse and latch on to every straw is palpable. Sadly and regrettably, Sh Modi is setting a dangerous precedent by his insatiable desire to tarnish every constitutional office, including that of a former Prime Minister and Army Chief. I sincerely hope that Prime Minister will show the maturity and gravitas expected of the high office he holds instead of concentrating his energy solely on erroneously conceived brownie points. I sincerely hope that he will apologize to the Nation for his ill thought transgression to restore the dignity of the office he occupies.”
The Congress, the ex-PM said, needs no sermons on “nationalism” from a party and Prime Minister, whose “compromised” track record on fighting terrorism is well known, while reminding Modi of his “uninvited” visit to Pakistan after terrorist attacks in Udhampur and Gurdaspur.
“let him also tell the country the reason for inviting the infamous ISI of Pakistan to our strategic Air Base in Pathankot to investigate a terror attack that emanated from Pakistan,” the ex-PM said. In a strong editorial in the party mouthpieces, “Saamana” and “Dopahar Ka Saamana” said that Modi “dug up the graves of the Mughal regime” in his campaign instead of speaking about “vikas” (development) issues to target the opposition Congress.