NEW DELHI: The BJP on Monday accused the Congress of speaking Pakistan’s language after the Opposition party MP Shashi Tharoor claimed that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s speech at the United Nations was meant for the cadre of the saffron outfit.
“The thinking of the Congress has completely been distorted. From opposing the BJP, the Congress now is speaking against national interest of the country. It doesn’t distinguish between political opposition and national interests,” said BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi.
Incidentally, Tharoor had stated that Swaraj’s speech at the UN General Assembly had failed to portray a positive image of the country.
Trivedi claimed that Tharoor was standing with Pakistan, violating the convention not to criticise India’s official statements at international fora. “The tone and tenor of the Congress and Pakistan appear same on a number of occasions,” Trivedi said, pointing out that both Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Pakistan questioned the veracity of the surgical strikes against terror camps in PoK.
Trivedi also said that the Congress president’s claim of being a ‘Shiva Bhakta’ was hypocritical since some party workers were expelled for raising the chants of “Har Har Mahadev” and “Bam Bam Bhole” at Prayag in Uttar Pradesh.
The BJP leader also cited comments of Congress leaders like Mani Shankar Aiyar and Ghulam Nabi Azad to liken it with Pakistan in its opposition to the Modi government.
He said the Congress has lost the "moral right" to claim to be the party of Mahatma Gandhi, wondering if the Congress in zeal to oppose Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also opposing the country.
The BJP in opposition behaved responsibly, the spokesperson said.
Trivedi said Atal Bihari Vajpayee had put up a robust defence at the United Nations of the then Indian government headed by P V Narasimha Rao, while Modi had slammed then Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif for his swipe at his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh.
Attacking the Congress, he said it, like Pakistan, has also attacked the RSS, the ideological parent of the BJP, and was now criticising the Rafale deal.
Former Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik went to the extent of saying that Congress president Rahul Gandhi will be India's next prime minister, Trivedi said.
The alleged similarity in the stands of Pakistan and the Congress was also there when the latter was in power, he claimed.
He cited terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba's founder Hafiz Sayeed's alleged praise of the then home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde for his use of the term "Hindu terror" in 2013 and of another Congress leader Digvijay Singh after he allegedly linked the RSS to the Mumbai terror attack in 2008.
The BJP leader, at the same press conference, also claimed that the Congress had expelled three functionaries from the party's unit in Madhya Pradesh because of their chants praising Lord Shiva, and alleged that it had exposed the "true colours" of its president Rahul Gandhi.
He said the Congress had projected Gandhi as an ardent devotee of Shiva but this claim has now proved to be a "farce".
To a question about the Congress's charge that the BJP was appropriating the legacy of the likes of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Mahatma Gandhi as it had no leader in its ranks who participated in the independent struggle, he said these leaders belonged to all Indian.
"Mahatma Gandhi was called the father of the nation, not the father of the Congress," he said.
The BJP leader claimed that no Congress leader except Lala Lajpat Rai died in police action.
There were many others outside Congress who were killed and hanged by British authorities, he said.
The Congress worked to erase their contributions, he said, adding that many people and organisations worked for independence and the opposition party was not alone.
(With PTI inputs)