Citing the WikiLeaks disclosures, United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Friday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of indulging in “opportunistic politics” and asked as to how people could believe the opposition party.
“You must have heard about WikiLeaks where a senior BJP leader was quoted as saying to a foreign diplomat that the party’s Hindutva ideology is opportunistic. Can now anybody believe them?” Ms. Gandhi asked at an election rally at Neelam Bazaar area in Karimganj constituency.
“Can anybody believe these people and their party? Never.”
I know, you all are aware and understand everything and recognise these people and their intentions,” she said.
Ms. Gandhi was referring to a cable by Robert Blake, the Charge at the US Embassy in Delhi, to his government that senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley had remarked to him that Hindu nationalism is an “opportunistic issue” for his party.
Ms. Jaitley has, however, maintained that he had not used the word “opportunistic” and that the word in reference to Hindutva could be the “diplomat’s own usage“.
The cable by Mr. Blake, first accessed by The Hindu , had said, “In India’s northeast, for instance, Hindutva plays well because of public anxiety about illegal migration of Muslims from Bangladesh.”
Ms. Gandhi asserted that the Congress was not among parties believing in opportunism, but was committed to the development of Assam and the nation.
Assam, which has 126 Assembly seats, will have a two-day poll on April 4 and 11.
