Ahmedabad, Nov 24 (PTI) Defence Minister NirmalaSitharaman today attacked the Congress, saying the partyregularly makes statements that seek to "break the Army'smorale and reduce its stature".
She rued leaders of the Sonia Gandhi-led party oftenspeak the language of separatists and support those who talkabout dividing the nation.
Talking to reporters here, the minister also slammed theopposition party over the "chai-wala" meme directed at PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, saying it has failed to learn from itspast mistakes.
"Today, the Congress talks in separatists' voice andenthusiastically joins them. The Congress vice presidentsupports those misdirected youths of the JNU who talk aboutbreak-up of the country (desh ke tukde karenge)," she said.
"A senior Congress leader advocates autonomy (for Jammu &Kashmir) and says separatists talk about autonomy and notindependence. He gives different definitions of 'azadi'. Whenhe was the home minister (in the Congress-led UPA government),he said the Army is against peace process," she said,referring to reported statements of Congress leader PChidambaram.
"A Congress leader (Sandeep Dikshit) likened the Armychief to a 'goon on the street'. The Congress is always readyto break the morale of the Army and reduce the Army'sstature," she said.
Sitharaman said Modi is needlessly targeted by themain opposition party. "Our prime minister, who works for thebenefit of the country, was accused of 'khoon ki dalali' anddescribed as a 'chai-wala' (tea seller)."The Congress has damaged itself with such statements,Sitharaman, here to campaign for the BJP in the Gujaratassembly polls, said.
"Before every election, the Congress has the habit ofinflicting damage to itself (by making statements againstModi)," the Union minister said.
She referred to Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's"chai-wala" remark and said his jibe against Modi ahead of the2014 polls "changed the course of election".
"Who had said Modiji, 'I will offer you a stall to selltea'?...The Congress is again daring to insult the primeminister with 'tu chai bech (go sell tea) meme," she said.
The Congress comes up with such select comments beforeevery election and does not even learn from its mistakes, shesaid, adding the party did not even spare the Army.
"They (Congress leaders) said surgical strike was 'khoonki dalali'. The party should introspect before making suchcomments," Sitharaman added, referring to the Army's surgicalstrike on terrorist launchpads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
PT KA PD RSYSMN.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.