Launching a scathing attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah accused him of consistently siding with forces that seek to divide India.
Shah’s sharp reaction came in response to Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s remarks in the United States. During his three-day visit to the US, Gandhi made several critical remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“Standing with forces that conspire to divide the country and making anti-national statements have become a habit for Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party. Whether it is supporting the JKNC's anti-national and anti-reservation agenda in J&K or making anti-India statements on foreign platforms, Rahul Gandhi has always threatened the nation's security and hurt sentiments,” said Shah in a post on X.
He added that Gandhi’s statements lay bare the Congress' politics of causing rifts on the lines of regionalism, religion, and linguistic differences.
Further hitting out at the Congress leader over his comments on scrapping reservations, Shah said, “By speaking about abolishing reservations in the country, Rahul Gandhi has once again brought the Congress' anti-reservation face to the forefront. The thoughts that were in his mind eventually found their way out as words.”
The BJP leader said that as long as BJP is there in the country, neither can anyone abolish reservations nor can anyone mess with the nation's security.
While talking to students in Georgetown University, Gandhi had said that the Congress party will think of scrapping reservations when India is a fair place, which is not the case right now.
Separately, Gandhi alleged that democracy in India for the last 10 years was broken, but now it is fighting back. Launching an attack on PM Modi, Gandhi said in the US, “Here's a Prime Minister of a modern country in the 21st century telling people that I speak to God. I'm different than everybody else. You are biological people. I'm a non-biological person. I have a direct link to God. And that for us was a game over (for the Prime Minister during the elections). We knew that we had defeated the Prime Minister.”
While interacting with members of the Indian community, Gandhi said that the fight in India is not about politics. "The fight is about whether a Sikh is going to be allowed to wear his turban in India or a kada in India. Or he, as a Sikh, is going to be able to go to Gurdwara. That's what the fight is about. And not just for him, for all religions," he said.
The Congress MP's remarks created a massive uproar, with the BJP targetting him for spreading lies. "The leader of the party that shielded those behind the massacre of our Sikh brothers and sisters now goes on foreign soil spreading lies about the freedom of Sikhs in India to practice their faith. The fact is neither Rahul Gandhi nor the Congress have the interest of Sikhs or India in mind," said Union minister Piyush Goyal.
Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri told a press conference at the BJP headquarters that Gandhi's remarks were "sinister" in nature as he tried to spread falsehood among the members of the Sikh community living abroad to "eke out a living" and do not have much connection with India.
(With PTI inputs)
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