Satyagraha for whom: against OBCs, against courts, against law or for Gandhis? BJP asks Congress

Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, March 26

The ruling BJP on Sunday accused the Congress of using Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial to advance the personal cause of the Gandhi family and said while the Father of the Nation’s satyagraha was for the people, the Opposition party’s act seeks to protect one individual who stood convicted and sentenced by a court of law.

“We want to ask the Congress for whom this satyagraha is. Is it against Other Backward Classes whom Rahul Gandhi insulted with the most despising words? Is it against the courts which pronounced Rahul Gandhi guilty? Is it against the law which provides for automatic disqualification of convicted MPs? Or is it against Gandhi ji’s non-violence considering 1984 Sikh massacre accused Jagdish Tytler, a symbol of violence, is part of this event? BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi asked.

Launching a scathing attack on AICC General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who, while speaking at Congress’ day-long ‘Sankalp Satyagraha’ in support of Rahul Gandhi over his disqualification, said her family had shed blood to nurture Indian democracy, Trivedi retorted, “Give me the name of one national-level Congress leader who was killed by a British bullet, who was packed off to ‘kaala paani’ like Veer Savarkar; who was hanged under British rule or who suffered British batons barring Lala Lajpat Rai? History books written under your times taught us that Gandhiji secured freedom without bloodshed. And you say your family shed blood. Who should we believe?”

The BJP said the Opposition party’s Satyagraha at Rajghat was a “shameless display of arrogance and contempt for OBCs”.

Trivedi said Mahatma Gandhi had launched his first satyagraha in South Africa for social good and another in India against the Rowlatt Act for a national cause.

“The Congress has insulted Mahatma Gandhi by sitting in satyagraha at his memorial for the cause of one person. We also wish to stress the Congress Party’s duplicity of character. This is a party that considers Lord Ram imaginary, that stood against the Ram temple construction and today invokes Lord Ram for personal interest,” Trivedi added.

The BJP also took on Congress deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha Pramod Tiwari for suggesting that the court should have considered Gandhi family’s legacy while pronouncing Rahul Gandhi guilty.

“The Gandhi family considers itself superior to jurisprudence of the courts. They want two separate laws in one country—one for commoners, one for the family...Until the BJP came to power, there were indeed two laws in the country and even Robert Vadra had special access to VVIP lounges at airports,” Trivedi said, mentioning how late Indira Gandhi’s was convicted for election fraud and yet the Congress coined the slogan, “Indira is India, India is Indira.”

The BJP said Gandhi’s disqualification was the culmination of a lawful process and he was free to challenge his conviction.

“We were silent as long as Congress leaders were abusing the BJP, spewing venom on PM Narendra Modi. But speaking against India, against OBCs in a display of brazenness and shamefulness is against India’s traditions,” Trivedi said adding, “Rahul Gandhi should have actually apologized but his arrogance is writ large. First he displayed arrogance while tearing the (2013 UPA) ordinance that could have saved him. Today he is displaying arrogance in following what is essentially the culmination of his act of tearing that same ordinance. Duplicity of his character is ironic.”

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