New Delhi: Union minister Anurag Thakur on Monday slammed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for "defaming India" on foreign land and said that it was "to hide his failures". The Union minister alleged that Gandhi was taking all initiative to malign the country in a pre-planned manner.
"Rahul Gandhi 'vivaadon ki aandhi ban chuka ha' (turned up to be a storm of controversies). Be it foreign friends, agencies or foreign land - he's leaving no stone unturned to defame India. To hide his failures, he has taken contract to defame India from foreign land in a pre-planned manner," the Minister said.
Thakur's statement comes a day after Gandhi slammed the BJP over the recent raids conducted at the offices of the BBC while speaking at an interactive session with Indian Journalists Association in London. Gandhi had termed the raids to be a move to suppress the voice and said that if the BBC stopped writing against the Centre then all cases against them would be withdrawn.
Gandhi alleged that the BJP was trying to silence the country in its bid to create a new India. He said that for the last nine years everybody has been aware about suppression of voice. Journalists speaking against the Centre are being attacked and threatened while those who toe their line are being rewarded, he said adding that those supporting the Prime Minister earns the government's support and those who are against gets attacked.
Gandhi further mentioned said that his Bharat Jodo Yatra aimed at expression of voice. Prior to this, Gandhi had raked up another controversy during his Cambridge lecture, after he said that his phone was tapped by using Pegasus. The BJP leaders had criticised the Congress leader for defaming India.
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In response, Gandhi refuted BJP's allegations by saying his statements were being twisted by the BJP leaders. Gandhi claimed that it was actually Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had defamed India when he told during his foreign trip that there was no development in India after independence and had also claimed there was unlimited corruption in India.
