In the middle of his three-city visit to the United States, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has talked about a range of topics including press freedom, his disqualification from the Lok Sabha, opposition unity along with taking jibes at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a recent interaction at the National Press Club in Washington DC, Gandhi explained how a state party in Kerala, Indian Union Muslim League, is not a non-secular party.
"Muslim League is a completely secular party. There is nothing non-secular about Muslim League. I think the person (who sent the question) has not studied the Muslim League," Gandhi said.
Also read: 'Opposition united amid clampdown on freedom': Rahul Gandhi's 2024 poll prediction
Rahul Gandhi's earlier statements have already stirred criticism from the BJP, his comment on the Muslim League drew more flak, leading to a considerable war of words between the ruling party and the Opposition Congress.
Who has opposed the statement?
Drawing parallels between IUML and founder of Pakistan Mohammad Ali Jinnah's political party All India Muslim League, Union minister Kiren Rijiju called Gandhi's comment ‘extremely unfortunate’.
“Jinnah's Muslim League is a secular party? The party responsible for India's partition on religious lines is a secular party? Extremely unfortunate that some people in India still consider the person who supports the Muslim League as Secular!” he tweeted.
{{/usCountry}}“Jinnah's Muslim League is a secular party? The party responsible for India's partition on religious lines is a secular party? Extremely unfortunate that some people in India still consider the person who supports the Muslim League as Secular!” he tweeted.
{{/usCountry}}BJP's Amit Malviya also criticised Gandhi on the same lines and called him a person who is ‘poorly read’ and ‘disingenous and sinister’.
Union minister KJ Alphons said Gandhi shouldn't be ‘pardoned’ because he holds ‘very limited intellectual capacity’. He further gave his reasons why IUML is not a secular party. “Indian Union Muslim League - it obviously means that it is a party only for the Muslims, there are no Hindus or Christians; there has never been and there will never be...The party has become completely silent on extremism, fundamentalism. Kerala has become the laboratory for ISIS & these people don't say a word,” he told news agency ANI.
Another minister in the Union cabinet Prahlad Singh Patel said, “The mindset that calls the Muslim League 'secular' is dangerous…if they say Muslim League is secular, they are sowing seeds of division," he said.
Who has supported the statement?
Responding to the criticism, the Congress party slammed the BJP and set a distinction between Jinnah's Muslim League and the state party.
“We are talking about IUML. PM Modi and Amit Shah only understand Jinnah’s Muslim league," senior Congress leader Pawan Khera told news agency PTI.
Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel said that the BJP is trying to mislead people by combining two different political parties, one of which has been virtually banned after independence.