BJP and Congress engage in a bitter war of words

A file photo to Aseemanand.

A bitter war of words broke out between the BJP and the Congress soon after the Mecca Masjid blast case verdict on Monday. The BJP demanded an apology from the Congress, Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi for “defaming Hindus”, while the Opposition party, in turn, questioned the impartiality of the National Investigation Agency under the Modi government.

At a press meeting in New Delhi, the BJP demanded an apology from the Congress, alleging that the “party’s attempts to defame Hindus” had come a cropper after a special anti-terror court in Hyderabad acquitted right-wing activist Swami Aseemanand and four others in the case.

“For its appeasement politics, the Congress targeted and defamed Hindus and the country for merely some votes. That conspiracy has been exposed. The Congress has been exposed like never before,” BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said.

Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, however, alleged that ever since the NDA came to power in 2014, most sensitive cases had been collapsing.

“It is happening in each case since the government was formed four years ago ... people are losing faith in the agencies,” he told presspersons.

Double standards

Mr. Patra, however, called it “double standards’’ of the Congress as the party had welcomed a court order in favour of the 2G scam accused. Attacking former Home Ministers P. Chidambaram and Sushil Kumar Shinde, Mr. Patra alleged that they had used terms such as “saffron terror” and “Hindu terror.”

“Will Mr. Rahul Gandhi hold candle light vigil at India Gate tonight for defaming the Hindu religion?” he asked.

The Congress, however, responded by saying Mr. Gandhi never talked of any saffron terror.

Asserting that the people will teach the Congress a lesson in the Karnataka Assembly poll, Mr. Patra, however, accused Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramiah of “hobnobbing” with activists of the Popular Front of India.