A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attacked Congress President Rahul Gandhi over his reported remark that the Congress is "a Muslim party", Gandhi on Tuesday, 17 July, tweeted that he and his party “loved all living beings”, and their religion or caste did not matter.
Addressing a press conference at the BJP office in New Delhi, senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar had asked Gandhi to come out and clarify his remark. He had also declared that the "divisive" politics of the Congress party damaged the country.
The BJP had asked Gandhi to break his “silence” on the matter after he reportedly told an Urdu daily Inquilab that the Congress is a “Muslim party”.
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Sunday, 15 July, said that Gandhi became a "janeu-dhari" and flaunted his Brahmin lineage when he went to Gujarat and Karnataka for election campaigns. After the polls, he is patronising Muslims, he added.
Javadekar said: "Gandhi's remarks show that Congress is a communal party. Its appeasement politics has damaged the country. History of partition is testimony to this."
He said the Congress has a "divisive ideology", pointing to the "only genocide" India witnessed in 1984, when thousands of Sikhs were killed during the party's rule.
The Congress stands exposed in front of people, Javadekar asserted. "Why is Rahul Gandhi silent about it; why does he not come out in the open?” Javadekar asked. He claimed that the minority cell president of the Congress, Nadeem Javed, has justified Gandhi's remark that Congress is a Muslim party.
The BJP leader also questioned Gandhi for not speaking about the practice of triple talaq, and asked whether the Opposition party has place only for Muslim men and not women.
The Monsoon Session of Parliament is set to begin on Wednesday, 18 July, and the Triple Talaq Bill tops the government's agenda. Gandhi on Monday, 16 July, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to ensure the passage of the Women's Reservation Bill in this session.
BJP is Like the East India Company: Congress
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala on Monday, 16 July, hit back at the BJP and PM Modi saying that they only believed in divisive politics like the East India company.
“The only religion of the BJP is power. Under the facade of religion, the party satiates its lust for power,” said Surjewala.
Adding that “Godse’s ideology” could never defeat “Gandhi’s ideology”, he said that the BJP was making such comments only to hide its failures over the past four years.
“First and foremost, this is the question that needs to be asked – was a particular individual or representative present in the meeting that was attended by a select group of individuals with the Congress President? The answer is in the negative,” said Surjewala.
“The Prime Minister, who is a fake Prime Minister, is facing defeat in the 2019 general elections. The entire BJP and the PM is now only dependent on one thing – polarise, polarise polarise – like the East India Company,” he added.
Inquilab Journalist Defends Report
Journalist Mumtaz Alam Rizvi, who wrote the report for the Urdu daily Inquilab, told ANI that the Congress should not have retracted Rahul Gandhi’s statement.
Rahul Gandhi said that if the BJP has made us a Muslim party, then yes we are a Muslim party because the Muslims in this country are weak and the Congress always stands for the weak. There is nothing wrong with what he said, the Congress should not be defensive in this matter.Mumtaz Alam Rizvi, Inquilab journalist
Javed further said that Gandhi’s statement in the report was being misinterpreted by the BJP.
"The BJP is so used to spreading rumours that they have to create a new controversy based on rumours every day. I said that to see development in India, we have to listen to and solve the problems of all sections of society, the backward, the Dalits, Muslims, everyone. Also, Rahul Gandhi said that the weak people should be empowered," Javed told ANI.
He also said that he was not happy with the way his words were projected and that the BJP wanted to see this issue play out in a Hindu vs Muslim narrative.
(With inputs from ANI and PTI.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)