BJP Tirade against Rahul Gandhi, Congress Continues, Congress Called it “Frustration”
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 10: The BJP continued to attack Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party branding the “Bharat Jodo Yatra” as nothing but “Bharat Todo Yatra” for calling on an alleged “India-hating” Catholic priest which the Congress described as the ruling party’s “mischief” by presenting distorted version due to “frustration” for the “successful launch” of the 3,500 Kilometre long foot march from Kanyakumari to Srinagar.
The union home minister Amit Shah also targeted Gandhi for allegedly wearing a “foreign T-shirt” in the “Yatra” while its communication chief Amit Malviya described the Yatra a “sham” for calling on a priest “known for Hindu hatred.”
Rahul Gandhi met pastor George Ponnaiah at the Muttidichan Parai Church, Puliyoorkurichy in Tamil Nadu where he camped for a morning break on Friday. In the video shared by several BJP leaders, Rahul Gandhi was heard asking, “Jesus Christ is a form of God? Is that right?” To which, the pastor said, “He is the real God.” Ponnaiah went on to say, “God reveals him(self) as a man, a real person…not like Shakti…so we see a human person.”
The visit provided a new ammunition to the BJP. “This man was arrested for his Hindu hatred earlier – he also said ‘I wear shoes because impurities of Bharat Mata should not contaminate us.’ Bharat Jodo with Bharat Todo icons?” BJP’s Shehzad Poonawalla, said while sharing the clip of their conversation on Twitter. The Congress, in turn, accused the BJP of running a “hate factory, alleging it has turned more desperate ever since the successful launch of the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’.
“If meeting a controversial pastor, who is known for his visceral disdain for the majority community and their beliefs, Rahul Gandhi’s idea of “Bharat Jodo, then this Yatra is nothing but a sham. How can indulging faith supremacists serve the larger society and bring cohesion?” BJP’s Amit Malviya tweeted. The pastor was arrested last year in July in Kallikudi, Madurai for a hate speech against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and other leaders.
The Congress accusing the BJP of spreading “mischief”, saying the tweet shared by them bears no relation whatsoever to what is recorded in the audio. “An atrocious tweet from the BJP hate factory is doing the rounds. It bears no relation whatsoever to what is recorded in the audio. This is typical BJP mischief that has become more desperate after the successful launch of Bharat Jodo Yatra which is evoking such a huge response,” Jairam Ramesh tweeted.
In Jodhpur in Rajasthan where Amit Shah paid a day’s visit on Saturday, the union home minister asked the Congress leader to read the country’s history first before continuing with his “Bharat Jodo” march.
Addressing the BJP booth-level workers, Shah said, “Rahul baba has embarked on the Bharat Jodo Yatra wearing foreign jersey and foreign t-shirt. Friends, I want to remind him and Congressis, a sentence from his speech in Parliament, ‘Bharat is not a nation’. Arey Rahul baba, you have read this in which book? This is that nation, for which lakhs of people have sacrificed their lives and coloured the land red. This is that nation where thousands of sisters have committed “Jauhar” and for honour and the country, have jumped into the fire. But doesn’t this seem like a country to you?” Shah said Rahul Gandhi needs to read the history of India.
Prior to his address, Shah presided over the valedictory session of a national meeting of the party’s OBC Morcha on Saturday.
Shah also hit out at the Rajasthan government over the murder of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal by Muslim extremists and the Karauli violence. The Congress, he said, will be left with nothing after the BJP forms government in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the only two states where it is in power on its own.
