BJP attacks Rahul Gandhi as Congress leader fires another salvo at PM Modi over Manipur violence | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The Parliament’s Monsoon session has ended but there is no let-up in the offensive between the government and the opposition.

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s sharp attack at the opposition, especially the Congress, in his Lok Sabha speech, Rahul Gandhi today returned fire, once again accusing the Prime Minister of being insensitive to the violence in Manipur.

His remarks evoked strong response from the BJP. While parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said Rahul has “lost his mental balance”, BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya said the Congress leader was “blabbering like a dement.”
Addressing a press conference today, Rahul Gandhi alleged that the Prime Minister “wants Manipur to burn and allows it to burn”. He asserted that if the Modi government wanted to stop the violence, there are tools in the hands of the government that can stop it immediately.
He accused the government of not using army to control the violence in Manipur. “I have full faith in Indian Army, everyone knows it can stop Manipur violence the moment it is asked to, but the govt is not doing so,” he alleged.
“Women and children are dying over there, women are being molested and raped and the Prime Minister of India is sitting in the middle of Parliament and laughing. This is not about Rahul Gandhi, it is not about the Congress, it is not about opposition, it is about India, it is about our country. A state has been decimated, it does not exist anymore and it has happened because of the politics of the BJP — divide and rule and burn,” Rahul said and added “it does not behove the Prime Minister to laugh and crack jokes in Parliament when the state has been “on fire” for the past four months.”
Hours after Rahul Gandhi’s strong attack, several BJP leaders trained their guns at the Congress leader.
“It appears from whatever statements he (Rahul Gandhi) has made today that he has lost his mental balance,” Pralhad Joshi said.
The minister took a swipe at the Congress saying it is a good sign that the opposition party has started talking of ‘Bharat Mata’ and raising the slogan of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP dispensation.
He also countered Rahul Gandhi’s allegations that the term Bharat Mata had been expunged from Parliament and said “The term ‘Bharat Mata’ has not been expunged. What was unparliamentary has been expunged.”
Rahul during his speech in Lok Sabha had said that “Bharat Mata has been murdered in Manipur.” This led to a strong retort from several ministers, including the Prime Minister, who questioned the language of the Congress leader.
Union minister Anurag Thakur also targeted the Congress leader over his Bharat Mata remarks and said “Only supporters of ‘Tukde-Tukde’ gang can think of dividing, killing ‘Bharat Mata’. They are not concerned about the women of Manipur. They talk about the murder of Constitution, Bharat Mata. Rahul Gandhi is not worried about the women of Rajasthan, you differentiate between the women of West Bengal, Bihar, Manipur.”
Rahul, however, defended his remarks and claimed what he had said were not hollow words as he had for the first time in his 19 years in politics been told in a state that if he takes a person from one community in his security detail to the area of another community, they will shoot that security personnel.
“Wherever and whenever there is an attack on ‘Bharat Mata’, you will find me trying to save her,” he added.
BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya also slammed Rahul Gandhi.
“Rahul Gandhi, who didn’t have the decency to sit through the entire no-confidence motion, moved by the opposition, skipped Home Minister’s speech and walked out when Prime Minister spoke, worse, like a ‘lukha’ (rough) was blowing flying kisses in the Parliament, when it was, ironically, among other things, discussing women security and safety, has the audacity to come out and blabber like a dement,” Malviya tweeted.
The BJP leader said that India deserves a more responsible opposition.
Earlier today, the BJP shared a video song on the social media ‘Mohabbat Dil mein rehti hai Dukaan mein nahi’ (love lives in the heart, not in the shop) to target Rahul Gandhi’s “Mohabbat ki Dukaan” slogan.
The official media handle of BJP took to Twitter and said,” Mohabbat Dil mein rehti hai Dukaan mein nahi ((love lives in the heart, not in the shop). Ye toh Kamai Jati hai bikti nahi (This is earned, not sold anywhere).”
The video showed that people were fedup of the Congress and decided to vote for Prime Minister Narendra Modi led government. The video further focussed on how the BJP has helped the poor families by providing them subsidised cooking gas cylinders. It also mentioned about the importance of Uri Strikes which led to elimination of terrorists launch pads and the recent success launch of lunar mission Chandrayan 3.
It ridiculed the grand old party and said that the shops of Congress have only sold emergency, partition and abuse to people of India.
(With inputs from agencies)