New Delhi: BJP president JP Nadda led his party’s attack on Rahul Gandhi on Friday over the Congress leader’s recent comments made in the UK on the state of Indian democracy, charging him with becoming a “permanent part of the anti-India toolkit” that seeks a weak government here so as to exploit it for its benefits.
In a statement, Nadda accused Gandhi of speaking the language of “anti-India” George Soros, a billionaire financier, and alleged that the Congress and the “so-called Left liberals” have become a part of the “deep state” conspiracy involving foreign forces against the country. “Anti-national” Congress leaders have been speaking the language of Pakistan, he added.
Gandhi will have to apologise to the people of India for his “sin” of seeking the “interference” of foreign powers in the country’s internal affairs, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president said. He accused the former Congress chief of joining hands with foreign conspirators against India to encircle the country economically and strategically. Never before in independent India any leader has done what Gandhi has done on foreign soil, he said.
“This is a most serious matter,” Nadda said, adding that what the Congress leader has done has hurt every patriotic MP as well as the people of the country.
Those working against India want a weak government working under the compulsions of an alliance for their benefits, he said.
The BJP president said anti-India forces have always had problems with a strong India, its robust democracy and decisive government. By criticising the state of democracy in India and seeking the intervention of the United States and Europe on foreign soil, Gandhi has attacked the country’s sovereignty, he added.
“Rejected repeatedly by people, Rahul Gandhi has become a permanent part of the anti-India toolkit,” Nadda said.
He accused the former Congress chief of insulting India, its Parliament, its democratically-elected government and people in Britain, a country that ruled over India for long. What Gandhi has done amounts to strengthening those working against India, the BJP president said.
The Congress has dismissed the BJP’s accusations and asserted that Gandhi will not apologise. He has sought permission to speak in Parliament to respond to the criticism levelled against him by the ruling party members in both houses. Parliamentary proceedings during the second half of the budget session have so far been a washout over the row.
The BJP president claimed that whenever a Parliament session is about to begin, the “anti-national gang” becomes active and comes up with a “toolkit”. Sometimes a false report on Israeli spyware Pegasus is published, sometimes agitations are instigated, sometimes a documentary surfaces from nowhere, he alleged.
Nadda said India has become the fifth-largest economy and is hosting the G20 summit under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, while Gandhi has chosen to “insult” the country on foreign soil.
“There can be nothing more shameful than seeking the US’ and Europe’s interference in India and claiming that democracy no longer exists in the country,” he said.
“By conniving with foreign conspirators, are you trying to get India under economic and strategic siege? Are you trying to weaken our nation and put our sovereignty under threat?” he asked.
Noting that Britain ruled over India before the latter gained independence, the BJP president said it was unfortunate that Gandhi sought foreign interference from that country.
“On that same land, Rahul Gandhi is demanding interference from foreign forces in India. If this is not a conspiracy against the country then what else is?” he asked.
“It is now clear that Mani Shankar Aiyar’s request for Pakistan’s help to remove Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji and Salman Khurshid’s demand for foreign help to remove Shri Modi Ji were not their personal views, but it was the intention of the Congress party and its top leadership,” he added.
The BJP president accused Gandhi of not understanding India’s democracy and having no faith in its citizens.
Referring to the imposition of Emergency by former prime minister Indira Gandhi, Nadda said had Rahul Gandhi read the democratic history of independent India properly, he would have known who killed the country’s democracy and who protected it.
A Congress government had imposed Emergency in the country for 19 months and put about a lakh and a half innocent people in jail without any reason, be it political workers, youngsters, old people or women, he noted, adding that more than 90 state governments were dismissed by the party when it was in power at the Centre.
While world leaders, including from Japan, Australia, Germany, Italy and Saudi Arabia, are lauding Modi’s leadership, Gandhi is “defaming and demeaning” India, Nadda said.
“Rahul Gandhi says that India is not a nation but a union of states. I have no words to express my dismay on the thinking of the man who does not believe in India as a nation. India is the mother of democracy. No power in the world can harm the democratic legacy of India,” the BJP chief asserted.
—PTI