The BJP on Thursday termed the Congress marking Jawaharlal Nehru’s birth anniversary by collecting all the opposition groups on one platform, an exhibition of partisan politics.
The move only serves to reduce India’s first Prime Minister’s stature from a national icon to a mere party symbol, it said.
BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain charged the Congress with using Nehru’s anniversary to divide society and spread hatred.
He attacked Rahul Gandhi for his remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Swachh Bharat and asserted that Modi “is only trying to accomplish Mahatma Gandhi’s dreams of a Clean India” by connecting people with it to make it a mass movement.
“Congress party is trying to use Nehru’s birth anniversary to play their own politics. Their pledge to unite the society and spread brotherhood is aimed at political gains and actually serves to divide the society. The Congress is playing the politics of hatred and not BJP,” Hussain said.
Calling Nehru a national leader, he accused the Congress of restricting his legacy to the confines of their party and thus reducing his stature.
Hussain further said Modi believes in taking everyone along and ensuring harmony and progress of the nation, and the Congress finds this unpalatable.
“The Congress cannot digest that it is not in power. As they are not used to being out of power, they have now taken to playing the politics of hatred out of frustration and disappointment,” said the BJP spokesperson
The BJP also attacked Rahul for his remarks on Hindi, saying he has no right to insult the language. Rahul had reportedly said, “They (BJP) said do away with English. Had we done this after independence, our youths would not have been able to go to IITs, IIMs…”
Hussain said Rahul has “every right to promote a language but no right to insult a language.”