New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday slammed the BJP’s statement that the saffron party was against any ideology that insulted any religion or sect, saying it was only a ‘pretence and an attempt at damage control.’
“The BJP’s statement saying it is, “strongly against any ideology which insults or demeans any sect or religion” is nothing but a blatantly counterfeit pretence, which is evidently farce and another sham attempt at damage control,” Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said. The Congress leader dubbed the expulsion of two of its spokespersons Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal by the BJP over the issue, as “placatory” and “done under duress of threats from external powers”.
“Is the BJP trying to atone for its immeasurable sins or is it more a chameleon-like posturing,” said Surjewala. The Congress leader further charged the “BJP has repeatedly and by design insulted India’s centuries-old civilisational ethos of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ by constantly pitting one community and religion against another to polarise, to divide and to spread hatred.”
According to Surjewala, the “intrinsic character of the BJP and the central government is founded upon religious violence, divisive conservatism and nurturing hatred to secure vote-bank politics.” He blamed the Prime Minister and the BJP chief ministers for having introduced a new “political vocabulary of a state-sponsored division of society via terms like “Shamshan-Kabristan”, “80vs20” and “bulldozer”.
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“The language of politics in elections no longer centres around phrases like “development”, “employment”, “progress”, “education”, “agriculture”, “irrigation”, “electricity”, “trade and business” and “infrastructure”. It is entirely centred upon creating, propagating, promoting and executing a wedge between religions and communities based on what they wear, what they eat, how they live, how they celebrate their religion or even how they speak,” said Surjewala.
The Congress chief spokesperson accused the BJP of having “pushed India into a dark age of religious polarisation to serve its parochial political agenda” and said, “its leaders, as well as workers, have perpetrated only one thing and that is creating a schism in India’s universally celebrated idea of unity in diversity.” Noting that “irreparable damage has been caused to the polity by their insatiable lust for power” the Congress leader suggested the “BJP and its leadership need to do a rethink.”
As a result, Sikhs, Muslims, Christians as also SC, ST and OBC’s have had to face the wrath of lumpen elements backed by state power, said Surjewala, adding that “this cannot be the central theme of any political party.”
The Congress leader wondered “will the bulldozing of India’s soul, its ethos and its all-encompassing humanity by the bulldozer of hatred finally stop” and said, “Will the mob-lynching of our Constitutional ethos cease. Is repentance by the BJP and its leadership possible? A short statement by the BJP is unlikely to heal the millions of wounds inflicted on the ethos of Indianness.”
