New Delhi:The Congress on Thursday hit back at the BJP after the saffron party targeted former party chief Rahul Gandhi for saying that the Muslim League was a secular outfit.“Rahul Gandhi actually made a reference to the Indian Union Muslim League, which is based in Kerala and not the Muslim League, which was formed by Pakistan founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah. The BJP is actually in love with the Muslim League as its leader Shyama Prasad Mukherjee had formed a coalition government with Jinnah’s Muslim League in West Bengal.
The BJP has old ties with the Muslim League and can’t forget them. When BJP founder LK Advani visited Pakistan, he went to Jinnah’s memorial and described him as the biggest secular leader. Several Indian leaders, including former Prime Ministers, went to Pakistan, but nobody visited Jinnah’s memorial and hailed him as the biggest secular leader. The BJP should go and ask such questions from Advani,” said Congress spokesperson Prof Gourav Vallabh.
In response to a query in the US, Rahul had said that the Muslim League was a secular party. The IUML had been a Congress ally for a long and was even part of the previous UPA government at the Centre. The BJP used the remarks to charge that Rahul Gandhi was not well-read and had little knowledge of history.
“The IUML is a registered political party in India. The Election Commission does not register parties which are not secular. If it was communal, the EC would not allow the party’s registration,” said Prof Vallabh. The BJP also targeted Rahul saying Rahul had insulted the country abroad. Responding to a query related to the remarks of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Prof Vallabh said that Rahul had never insulted India abroad, but PM Modi had done that several times in the past.
“Mohan Bhagwat should ask PM Modi why he insulted the country on foreign soil. PM Modi said in South Korea that people were ashamed to be born Indians and made fun of the middle class, who suffered the disastrous demonetisation in 2016, in Japan. In the US, PM Modi said that before 2014, India was considered a nation of snake charmers. Bhagwat ji why have you installed such a person as the Prime Minister? Rahul Gandhi has never insulted the country abroad. He only pointed out social problems like unemployment and price rise and that the social fabric was being dented. He never made fun of people,” said Prof Vallabh.
The Congress leader pointed out that while the BJP was elated over a recent remark of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese describing “PM Modi is boss”, the saffron party forgot that two Australian universities had denied admission to Indian students belonging to five different states.
“Modi does not go on his own, he represents the people of India. The Indian taxpayers bear the cost of PM Modi’s foreign visits. If Indian people are disrespected in a country, you cannot get respect there Modi. I urge Bhagwat to seek answers from the PM. And if the PM is under your control, which I don’t think he is, then you should ask the PM to apologise for his earlier statements,” he added.
