Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Monday launched a scathing attack on Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for his stand on the Jawaharlal Nehru University row.
Speaking on the raging controversy for the first time, Mr. Shah asked Congress president Sonia Gandhi and son Rahul a host of questions and demanded that the party vice-president apologise for his stand on the issue, saying support to anti-national forces in the name of the Left’s ideology was not acceptable.
The BJP president’s tough stand indicates that the party is willing to slug it out with the Congress and other opposition parties over an issue it believes will help reaffirm its nationalist credentials and put the Opposition in a corner.
“An attempt was made to defame a leading university in the national capital by turning it into a centre which encourages terrorism and separatism. I want to ask Rahul Gandhi if it would be in national interest had the Central Government kept quiet? Are you not encouraging traitors by protesting in support of these anti-nationals?” Mr. Shah wrote in a blogpost.
“Does he want another division of India by giving a free run to separatists in the name of freedom of expression? The kinds of statements the Congress vice-president and other leaders of his party have made in JNU have proved again that national interest has no place in their mind,” Mr. Shah said.
He said the Congress was in despair and frustrated over the success of the Modi government and its leaders were unable to decide on how to play the role of a responsible Opposition.
He claimed that Modi government has succeeded in “controlling anti-national sentiments” even in Kashmir but the Congress was fuelling the “shameful incident” in JNU despite being the main Opposition party.
“I seek answers from Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi to my questions on behalf of 125 crore countrymen and also demand that Rahul Gandhi apologise to the country for his action,” he said.
