NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday went hammer and tongs against Opposition parties’ INDIA bloc over the allegedly controversial statements made by DMK leader A Raja against Lord Ram and Hinduism. The BJP accused the Opposition as well as the DMK of having a politics of insulting India’s ethos publicly and humiliating Hindu gods.
Former Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, at the party’s central office here, said that DMK MP Raja, in his latest speech has said, “India is not, has never been a nation. A nation means one language, one tradition, one culture. India is not a nation, but a sub-continent.” Prasad further termed the statement as being an outcome of ‘Maoist ideology’.
Quoting the DMK MP as saying, “If this is your Jai Shri Ram, if this is your Bharat Mata Ki Jai, Tamils will never accept such slogans,” former Minister Prasad demanded replies from Congress and other INDIA bloc parties, on whether they agree with the DMK leader’s remarks. He further said that BJP vehemently opposed such remarks.
Addressing DMK MP Raja, he said, “Listen Raja saheb, the election results in Tamil Nadu will be very surprising this time, and a befitting reply to such insulting remarks. We ask Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, if they consider Raja’s remarks to be right.”
Quoting passages from the Consitution of India, Prasad said, “The nation’s soul lies in its unity amid diversity,” adding that it has become a habit of the INDIA bloc to insult and defame the Indian faith. He also criticised West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over her silence regarding the matter.