The BJP on Tuesday hit back at Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his speech in Bahrain that was critical of the Indian government , terming it “irresponsible” and saying that it was the Congress that spread hatred in the country for the longest period.
Addressing Non Resident Indians at a meeting of Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) at Manama in Bahrain on Monday, Gandhi blamed the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government for dividing people on the basis of caste and religion and alleged that it was converting the anger of jobless youth into hatred between communities.
Gandhi said the conversation in India was not about jobs, healthcare, or education; but “what you are allowed to eat, who is allowed to protest, and what we can say or rather what we cannot say”.
Taking exception to Gandhi’s criticism of India on foreign soil, Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a briefing at the BJP headquarters in the capital that it was expected of the Congress chief that he would not harp on political differences and “spread hatred in a foreign country as he did in India”. “The BJP strongly condemns Rahul Gandhi’s irresponsible utterances.... He is spreading hatred among people,” Prasad added.
He referred to the Triple Talaq bill, whose passage the Congress had stalled in the Rajya Sabha and accused the Congress of failing to take a stand on an issue of woman’s respect and justice. The Congress didn’t facilitate the passage of the bill, which criminalises the practice of instant divorce among Muslims. It maintains that it supports the bill but wants specific provisions discussed by a committee of Parliamentarians.
{{/usCountry}}He referred to the Triple Talaq bill, whose passage the Congress had stalled in the Rajya Sabha and accused the Congress of failing to take a stand on an issue of woman’s respect and justice. The Congress didn’t facilitate the passage of the bill, which criminalises the practice of instant divorce among Muslims. It maintains that it supports the bill but wants specific provisions discussed by a committee of Parliamentarians.
{{/usCountry}}In his speech, Gandhi claimed job creation in India was at an eight-year low. The Congress leader added that new investments are the lowest they have been in 13 years, bank credit growth has sunk to a 63 year low and “arbitrary decisions” such as last year’s demonetisation had dealt a “crippling blow” to India’s overall growth.
“..instead of focusing the attention of our people on what is critical, the removal of poverty, job creation and the building of a world class education system, we see instead a rise in the forces of hatred and division,” he said.