New Delhi: Two days after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighting BJP leaders’ offensive remarks against Rahul Gandhi, BJP chief JP Nadda has sent a letter to Mr Kharge, listing out derogatory words used by Congress leaders against the Prime Minister in the past. Taking a dig at Mr Gandhi, Mr Nadda wrote that the Congress has again tried to polish and relaunch a “failed product” which has been rejected by the people many times. “Was it not Rahul Gandhi’s mother Sonia Gandhi who used the derogatory expression ‘maut ka saudagar’ for Modiji? You and your party glorified such shameless statements. Did the Congress forget political etiquette then?” Mr Nadda, who is also the Union Health Minister, asked. He wrote that Congress leaders called the Prime Minister a “snake”, “scorpion”, “demon”, “pickpocket” and “coward”. “Even his parents were insulted,” Mr Nadda said. The BJP president accused Mr Gandhi, the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, of playing reservation and caste politics and inciting people against each other. “Then they go abroad and talk about ending reservation and taking away the rights of people from Dalit, backward class and tribal communities,” he wrote. Addressing a gathering at a university in the US, Mr Gandhi said the Congress would think of ending reservation only when “India is a fair place”, which, he said, is not the case right now. The BJP pounced on the remark and said the Congress leader’s bias against reservation has come out in the open. Mr Nadda said the Congress has caused the greatest insult to Indian democracy. “The Congress imposed Emergency, supported triple talaq, defamed and weakened constitutional institutions.” What Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to the Prime Minister
Earlier, in his letter to the Prime Minister, the Congress president had flagged a series of “objectionable, violent and indecent” comments against Rahul Gandhi.
Listing the verbal attacks on Mr Gandhi, Mr Kharge pointed to Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu’s “No. 1 terrorist” remark, a Shiv Sena leader’s announcement of Rs 11 lakh to anyone who “cuts” Mr Gandhi’s tongue and Delhi BJP leader Tarvinder Singh Marwah’s threat that Mr Gandhi would meet the same fate as his grandmother and former prime minister Indira Gandhi.
“Indian culture is known across the world for non-violence and love… Gandhiji made these norms an important part of our politics during the British period. After Independence, there has been a long tradition of respectful disagreement between the ruling party and the opposition,” the Congress chief wrote.
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He said crores of Congress workers are worried over the verbal attacks by BJP leaders on Rahul Gandhi. “It is because of such forces that spread hatred that the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi had to give their lives. This political conduct of the ruling party is the most unbecoming example in the history of democracy.” Mr Kharge urged the Prime Minister to impose decorum and decency on BJP leaders. “There should be strict legal action for such comments so that Indian democracy can be saved from degeneration.”
