The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday defended Prime Minister Narendra Modi's controversial remarks that the opposition termed as communally divisive.
BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia told reporters that PM Modi only echoed people's sentiments by calling a spade a spade. Bhatia said the opposition is in pain as Modi has shown them the mirror about its past.
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Prime Minister Modi drew backlash from the opposition parties for his remarks at an election rally in Rajasthan's Banswara where he alleged that the Congress plans to give people's hard-earned money and valuables to "infiltrators" and "those who have more children".
“The Congress manifesto says they will calculate the gold with mothers and sisters, and then distribute that property. They will distribute it to whom - Manmohan Singh's government had said that Muslims have the first right on the country's assets,” he claimed.
"Earlier, when their (Congress) government was in power, they had said that Muslims have the first right on the country's assets. This means to whom will this property be distributed? It will be distributed among those who have more children.
"It will be distributed to the infiltrators. Should your hard-earned money go to the infiltrators? Do you approve of this?" he said.
{{/usCountry}}"It will be distributed to the infiltrators. Should your hard-earned money go to the infiltrators? Do you approve of this?" he said.
{{/usCountry}}Read: Kapil Sibal's question to Election Commission on Modi's ‘those with more children’ remark
The Congress on Monday accused Modi of attempting to create communal polarisation for electoral gains.
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor termed the speech “disgraceful” and a “nakedly communal appeal” which “normally any civilised Election Commission would disallow and warn the candidate for speaking like this.”
Former Union minister and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal asked whether 20 crore people in the country mattered to PM Modi or not, urging the Election Commission to take immediate action.
“Politics has stooped down to such a level and it has not happened in history and I do not want it to happen. I want to ask a question to the Election Commission why action was not taken immediately. You (EC) should condemn it and a notice should be given to PM Modi,” Sibal said.
Bhatia, however, asserted that Modi's remarks have resonated with people as for the opposition INDIA bloc those who have illegally entered the country are more important than citizens if they happen to be Muslims.
To be sure, a 2006 PMO clarification available in the archives showed that the government at the time had clarified that the former PM Singh had said that all underprivileged sections needed to be uplifted and therefore had the first right to resources.