Aggressively countering the BJP’s charges that Rahul Gandhi lauded China at Cambridge University and maligned India on foreign soil, the Congress on Saturday played out old videos of Prime Minister Narendra Modi praising China and said Mr. Modi had raked up domestic politics abroad several times.
Addressing a press conference, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate, who also heads the social media department, accused the BJP of doing “politics” on the 2019 Pulwama terror attack.
She said the ruling party’s targeting of Mr. Gandhi either stemmed “from ignorance or from completely contrived politics”.
As a leading member of the Opposition, Mr. Gandhi has consistently stood for and espoused the causes of the common man, Ms. Shrinate said, adding that the former Congress chief’s speech actually talked of India’s role on the global stage and lauded the foundation of Indian democracy.
‘A flag-bearer’
“He is being the flag-bearer of the values our nation is built on. When he talks about Mahatma Gandhi and the values of our Constitution and the foundation of our country, he is actually bringing India a lot of pride. I don’t understand where it stems from but the BJP’s opposition (to his remarks) is either ignorance or completely contrived politics both of which have no place in a democracy,” she said.
The Congress spokesperson also alleged that a section of the media, as part of a “coordinated action”, had “mischievously” quoted Mr. Gandhi on Pulwama and China.
Questioning the narrative on some TV networks that Mr. Gandhi referred to the 2019 Pulwama suicide bombing as a terror attack, Ms. Shrinate said, “How can anyone say that? Showing a picture, he [Mr. Gandhi] said ‘This is me putting flowers on the spot where almost 40 soldiers were killed by a car bomb’… When Pulwama happened, we had cancelled all our programmes but Prime Minister Modi kept shooting for ‘Man versus Wild’ with Bear Grylls and Home Minister Amit Shah continued addressing rallies”.
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