NEW DELHI: Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad today targeted the ruling BJP by equating yesterday's developments related to the Rajya Sabha polls in Gujarat to the events witnessed when the Quit India Movement was launched on this day in 1942.
He trained his guns at the BJP in the Rajya Sabha while participating in a special debate to commemorate 75th anniversary of Quit India Movement.
"I don't want to mention the incidents of the last night. It looked like the same night (August 8/9, 1942) because the developments kept us awake till morning," the Congress leader said.
He was referring to the bitter fight witnessed during counting of votes in the Rajya Sabha polls which ended after the Election Commission declared votes of two rebel Congress MLAs as invalid, resulting in the victory of Ahmed Patel of the Congress.
"I don't want to bring politics because today it's a different occasion. But yesterday's night and day were the same," the veteran Congressman said, equating it to the events of 1942.
Referring to the August 7-9, 1942 events, Azad said that night a resolution was passed and Mahatma Gandhi gave a clarion call.
Mahatma Gandhi, the then Congress president Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel were arrested on the same night and the Congress was banned on August 9, 1942, Azad recalled.
Even newspapers -- National Herald, in which Nehru used to contribute, and Young India and Harijan, in which Mahatma Gandhi contributed, were banned.
"It is now a different issue that we are fighting for the newspapers which were mouth piece of India's freedom movement," he quipped.
In another apparent jibe on BJP and RSS, Azad said he did not want to go into details which parties participated in the Quit India Movement and which opposed it.
"This is a history and the entire information could be found on Wikipedia and Google," he said.
At this point, CPM leader Sitram Yechury said internet was not working.
To this, Azad said the country has defeated the "mightiest powers" and one should not be afraid of such small issues like absence of internet.