Several Congress leaders on Thursday sparred with Law Minister Kiren Rijiju after he tweeted a short video of former Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s speech in London and claimed that Mr. Gandhi is “dangerous for India’s unity”.
Mr. Rijiju also referred to Mr. Gandhi, who represents Kerala’s Wayanad constituency in the Lok Sabha, as “Pappu” – a Hindi term that is often pejoratively used to describe a person with low IQ.
Hitting back, Congress communication chief Jairam Ramesh called the Law Minister an “absolute disgrace”.
It all started when Mr. Rijiju posted a 26-seconds video clip of one of Mr. Gandhi’s recent speeches in London where the Congress leader claimed that though there are Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and people belonging to other religions who are all Indian, Prime Minister Narendra Modi treated them as “second class citizens”.
Tagging the video, the Law Minister tweeted, “This self-declared Congress Prince has crossed all the limits. This man has become extremely dangerous for India’s unity. Now he’s provoking people to divide India. India’s most popular & loved Hon. Prime Minister @Narendramodi Ji’s only mantra is Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat”.
“People of India know Rahul Gandhi is Pappu but foreigners don’t know that he is actually Pappu. And it’s not necessary to react to his foolish statements but the problem is that his anti-India statements are misused by the anti-India forces to tarnish the image of India,” he added.
Responding to the Law Minister, Congress leader and Lok Sabha member Manickam Tagore asked him to name a Christian or a Muslim Cabinet Minister in Prime Minister Modi’s Cabinet.
“Sabka ka Saath only remains in slogan Mr, Rijiju,” Mr. Tagore said in a tweet, and added, “Stop these idiotic comments. You are the Law Minister of India. Behave like that...”
In another tweet, Mr Rijiju, without naming Mr. Gandhi, said, “There should be a limit to relaunch the same product. Being relaunched in London, and marketing is actively following by the same gang in India!”
While Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate referred to Mr. Rijiju as a troll, Mr. Ramesh tweeted, “Absolute disgrace as a Minister”.
