The BJP on Saturday slammed Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi over her remark that she had cried while witnessing the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in 1992, claiming her statement showed that Babar was, and still is, in the Congress's heart.
The party also questioned Gandhi's claim that she watched the demolition of the mosque on television.
In an interview with The Guardian ahead of the launch of her memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, Gandhi recalled crying as she witnessed the demolition of the mosque "on television".
According to the British daily, Gandhi said she knew then that they faced "a long battle for the secular nation that Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru and their colleagues had strived to build".
The former Congress president accepted that her party's failures contributed in part to the rise of the BJP and its hardline Hindutva politics. "I think we have been too complacent in many ways. There was a laissez-faire kind of an attitude," she had said.
Reacting sharply to Gandhi's remarks, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi told reporters in Delhi, "This shows that Babar was in the heart of the Congress party back then, and he remains in its heart even today."
Gandhi's remarks mean that the Congress has now narrowed its scope to "Babar Raj", moving away from Mahatma Gandhi's "Ram Rajya", Trivedi said.
He further alleged that Gandhi's remarks make it clear that the Congress is a party with two faces and it does not merely stand with the Muslim community but "aligns itself with radicalised elements among Muslims".
"Late Rajiv Gandhi began his 1989 election campaign from Ayodhya, invoking the name of Lord Ram. Today, Sonia Gandhi, by invoking Babri, expressing sorrow over Gaza, and shedding tears for those accused in the Batla House encounter, reveals the true underlying mindset of the Congress," the BJP's Rajya Sabha MP said.
"Sonia Gandhi, three generations of your family have visited Babar's tomb uninvited and offered 'sijdah' (obeisance) there. Jawaharlal Nehru in 1959, Indira Gandhi in 1968, and Rahul Gandhi along with Manmohan Singh in 2005, visited the tomb," Trivedi said, adding, "What truly lay in your heart has now come to the fore."
The BJP leader also raised questions about Gandhi's claim that she watched the demolition of the "Babri structure" on television.
"I recall that the BBC World Service was covering this news that day. I want to ask where you were when you watched this on the BBC World Service? They broadcast video footage and photographs in the days that followed," Trivedi said.
"Which Indian television channel were you watching on December 6, 1992, that brought tears to your eyes? The 'kar sevaks' entered the site at 11.30 am that day and by 5 pm, when news came that the structure had been definitively demolished, the Kalyan Singh government (in Uttar Pradesh) resigned," Trivedi said.
"Later that night, at 8.45 pm, the then prime minister Narasimha Rao interrupted the Doordarshan news broadcast to announce in pure Urdu that his government had dismissed the Uttar Pradesh administration," he said, asking Gandhi to specify the "time and occasion" when she witnessed the incident on television.
(With inputs from PTI)
