Union Minister for Finance and Information & Broadcasting Arun Jaitley on Tuesday strongly dismissed the chorus of protest over “intolerance” by asserting that India could never be intolerant in its ethos.
In a string of riposte to the Congress charge of “intolerance”, several other BJP leaders, including Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, claimed that the Opposition party was desperate and enacting “a false drama” and has set itself against “unity, peace and economic prosperity of the country”.
“The national situation is absolutely peaceful... Political opponents must fight battles politically. To create an issue and link it to the Central Government is not fair. The country is not intolerant,” said Jaitley.
Addressing a Press conference about the International Film Festival of India, the Finance Minister said, “Attacking the Central Government for incidents in States ruled by other parties is not fair. We are the most vibrant democracy. The atmosphere will not change only by talking. If some incident happens like the one in Karnataka, which is Congress-ruled, you cannot link it to the Central Government to attack. That is not fair. This is a crime and action should be taken against whoever commits the crime. That is why people in the mainstream in the country have opposed it.”
When asked to respond specifically to Shah Rukh Khan’s comment on “extreme intolerance in India”, Jaitley countered, “What is wrong if somebody says that there should be no intolerance in
the country.”
The Finance Minister refused to comment on
BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha’s allegation that the party lost in Delhi because of Jaitley and if it loses in Bihar, then Amit Shah has to take the responsibility.
He also refused to join issue with former Union Minister and supporter-turned-critic of the Prime Minister Arun Shourie, who has attacked both the BJP leaders.
“I do not need to answer any personal comment on me,” he said.
Replying to a question on whether the Government is talking to artists who are returning awards, Jaitley wondered “when there is an atmosphere of peace in the country, what is the justification in returning awardsIJ”
Meanwhile, citing cases of alleged corruption against Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the BJP described the Congress leaders meeting with President Pranab Mukherjee as “a march of intolerance against investigations” and that the Congress was not ready to swallow “the bitter truth”.
Alleging that “political intolerance” was in Congress’ genes, Union Minister and senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu also said they are going to the “wrong address” as they should have gone to Raj Bhawans instead, as such “stray unfortunate” incidents happened in States ruled by the Congress or its friendly parties.
“It is a well-organised effort to defame our cultural ethos, which are based on time-tested traditions of accommodation and acceptance. This ongoing campaign is a clear effort to derail developmental momentum. They don’t want the Modi Government to succeed. Now to say that intolerance is raising suddenly is far from truth,” he said.
On the Congress taking the intolerance issue to President Pranab Mukherjee, he said, “How can a party, which had imposed Emergency, talk about intoleranceIJ People are laughing at them.”
BJP spokespersons MJ Akbar, Sambit Patra and GVl Rao claimed that the Congress’ campaign against the Government reflected that it was not able to swallow bitter truth of cases of corruption against Vadra and was not able to fight the BJP politically.
Rao said Enforcement Directorate has taken over the case of “a fraudulent land deal” by a company of Vadra in Rajasthan in September 2015. “Ever since, the Parivar has touched the roof,” he said.
The BJP spokesperson said a charge sheet has been filed in Bikaner court in the case where in a chain of transactions 21.5 hectares of land sold to fictitious (non-existent) persons before being purchased by Vadra’s company and then sold to a company which easily gets a huge “unsecured loan” to purchase the land. The land sold after one year when its prices “appreciate”, Rao said. “A completely fraudulent transaction”, the BJP spokesperson claimed and quipped, “Why does a family so secure always get unsecure loans.”