NEW DELHI: The Congress and the BJP today traded charges over Rahul Gandhi's speech in Germany, where he cited the creation of Islamic State terrorist group to warn against a similar situation at home if people are excluded from the development process.
The two parties also hit out at each other over Gandhi claiming that incidents of lynching in India were a result of the anger emanating from joblessness and "destruction" of small businesses due to demonetization and "poorly implemented" GST by the ruling BJP.
The BJP accused Gandhi of "belittling and insulting" India in his address in Hamburg yesterday, alleging that the Congress chief tried to justify terrorism and "lied through his teeth" to criticise the Narendra Modi government.
The ruling party demanded that Gandhi apologise for his remarks.
"Rahul Gandhi left no opportunity to belittle India and present it in a bad light. His speech was full of lies and deception and its sole aim was to insult India...He should apologise," BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said.
Taking a dig at Gandhi, he said "Rahul Gandhi has behaved like Rahul Gandhi and expecting any maturity from him is a futile exercise.
"Gandhi tried to justify terrorism and a terror outfit like IS, Patra said, adding, "There cannot be anything more frightening and worrying."
Hitting back, Congress spokesperson RPN Singh said the BJP and its government have failed on various fronts and Prime Minister Modi has only given "jumlas" and "false promises".
Singh said Modi is now trying to divert from the stark realities before the country.
"Unable to meet a single target till 2019, Modi government is now promising the moon to the people in 2022.
Living in its self-created make-belief world, the BJP will do the country a great favour if it sees the stark reality on ground," he told reporters.
Singh alleged that there was an "unprecedented lynching movement" taking place in the country being actively abetted and aided by the fringe elements within the BJP.
"There is an unprecedented 'lynching movement' which is taking place in India, which the BJP and its fringe outlets are actively abetting and aiding.
Hate begets hate.
"A violent ideology only encourages more violence.
BJP has forgotten the foundational values on which India has been built upon the values espoused by Mahatma Gandhi and Swami Vivekananda," he said.
He alleged that "there is an atmosphere of fear, which is curbing the freedom of speech" under the Modi government.
"Those who ask questions, seek accountability from this government are been given legal notices to 'resist and desist'," he said.
Singh said the Congress party does not need any stamps of approval from the BJP on how to fight and defeat terrorism, as it has lost many of its top leaders fighting the menace.
"An agenda-less, aimless and achievement-less BJP is trying to clutch at straws by covering its massive failures by building a desperate narrative.
Prime Minister Modi is back in election mode and a frustrated BJP is hankering for attention," he alleged.
Singh said the mood of the nation reflects that PM Modi's popularity is dipping, yet the BJP is not looking at the stark reality.
He said there are no jobs and the "disaster of demonetisation" has spelt doom for the economy, even as small and medium businesses are bearing the brunt of implementing a "flawed" GST, but BJP is not admitting anything.
In his address in Hamburg, Gandhi traced the creation of ISIS to warn against a similar situation at home if people are excluded from the development process.
"It is very dangerous in the 21st century to exclude people. If you don't give people a vision in the 21st century somebody else will give them one.
"And that's the real risk of excluding large number of people from our development processes," he said, accusing the BJP government of excluding tribals, Dalits and minorities from the development process.
Asserting that the transformation taking place in the world requires certain protection for people, he accused the current dispensation in India of taking these protections away from them and hitting the informal economy through demonetisation and GST, causing anger which is leading to lynching incidents.