The BJP on Friday maintained that Rahul Gandhi has declared the Congress a “Muslim party”, and he and the Congress will be solely responsible for any communal polarisation or violence that happens between now and the 2019 general elections.
The ruling party fielded Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to underline that Congress President Rahul Gandhi, in a meeting with Muslim intellectuals on July 11, had declared that the “Congress is a Muslim party”.
She alleged that the Congress wants to contest the next general elections on the basis of religion.
“We have heard from the President of the Congress, as reported in the
“We want the Congress President to clarify whether his party abides by the Constitution or they are a Muslim party. Does it stand for Sharia court all over the country?” asked Sitharaman at a press conference here.
She further accused the Congress of creating a “dangerous situation” akin to the post-Partition violence.
Recalling Partition
“It closely resembles what happened in 1947. The Congress is playing a dangerous game, playing up the card of religion. The Congress will be solely responsible if any disharmony prevails between now and 2019.
“Rahul Gandhi, like the leader of a fringe group, went and joined with the tude tukde group in JNU. And they give us lectures on the Constitution — this party that changed the fundamental character of the Constitution during the Emergency, when Parliament was not in session,” she said.
“We think the Congress is getting back to divide-and-rule India. The Congress has laid the foundation to fight elections on the basis of religion. Is there a conspiracy to create communal tension?” she remarked.
Series of comments
The Defence Minister pointed to a series of comments from senior Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor (saying “BJP will turn India into Hindu Pakistan”), ZA Khan (“there should be Sharia courts all over India”) and Digvijaya Singh (“Hindu terror”).
After hopping temples in Karnataka, Rahul is now changing course, she added.
“The Congress President, besides saying that Congress is a Muslim party, also said that Muslims are the next Dalits. Only yesterday, as reported, the Congress met with Muslim intellectuals. He said, ‘we cannot succeed with only Muslims, who are just 15 per cent of the population in Bihar; we need the Yadavs to join hands’. To this he adds comments on ‘correcting course’,” Sitharaman said.
She warned the Congress against going in opposition to the spirit of the Constitution.
“Declaring that you are a Muslim party...It is totally against the Constitution. And this is the Congress which accuses all others of not being part of the freedom movement. From Manmohan Singh saying that Muslims have the first right over natural resources and the party openly professing to Muslim appeasement, they have now reached a new crescendo,” she said.