Rahul derides Rajnath after HM says Pak trying to divide India

Kathua/New Delhi, December 11

Home Minister Rajnath Singh accused Pakistan on Sunday of trying to divide the country along communal lines.

“Pakistan is conspiring to divide India along religious lines, but it won't succeed,” Singh said at a function held to mark Martyrs' Day in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua.

Taking a jibe at Rajnath Singh, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said while he agrees that Pakistan is trying to divide India along religious lines, the Home Minister and his "boss" Prime Minister Narendra Modi have also been doing the same.

Responding to the remarks of Singh that Pakistan has been "conspiring" to divide India on religious lines, Rahul tweeted: "Yes Rajnath Singhji Pakistan is trying to divide India along religious lines; has it struck you that you & your boss have been doing the same?"

Rajnath accused Pakistan of using terrorism to separate J&K from the rest of India. 

“Do they (Pakistan) think they can use terrorism to tear away J&K from India? Terrorism is a coward's weapon,” the home minister said, claiming the neighbour needed to mend its ways.

He also said India was willing to help its neighbour tackle terrorism.

“If Pakistan fails to control terrorism and wants India's cooperation, we are ready to help in eradicating the menace from the country,” he said.

Referring Indian Army’s military attacks on terrorist launch pads in Pakistan after September’s militant attack in north Kashmir’s Uri, he said: “I want to assure that this government will never let India to bow its head before anyone and will always give befitting reply to Pakistan's attack”. 

The home minister is also likely to review the security situation of the state, particularly along the Line of Control and International Border.

Ties between India and Pakistan, already tense, has cooled further in the past few months, first due to an unrest in Kashmir that killed more than 80 and left thousands wounded, then due to militant attacks on military installations and later due to heavy cross-border shelling.  — Agencies