Anyone who opposes BJP is dubbed ‘urban Naxal’: Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday hit out at the Modi government over the decision to hand over the Bhima Koregaon case to the National Investigative Agency saying anybody who opposes the government’s agenda of hate is being branded an “urban naxal”.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi took to twitter to attack the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah — whom he called “MOSH”. He claimed that those who oppose their “agenda of hate” are bra-nded as “Urban Naxal”.

“Anyone who opposes the MOSH agenda of hate is an ‘Urban Naxal’. Bhima-Koregaon is a symbol of resistance that the Government’s NIA stoog-es can never erase,” he tweeted.

The Centre’s decision to withdraw the cases came close on the heels of the Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP)alliance government in Maharashtra reviewing the cases.

The alliance government was seen to be preparing to withdraw all cases against intellectuals and social activists accused of inciting violence at the event. Earlier this week, it convened a review meeting with senior Pune police officers regarding this.

The Centre’s decision has triggered a massive political controversy, with the state government calling it “unconstitutional”.

Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh has said that the decision was taken without the state government’s consent.  "Handing over the Koregaon-Bhima probe to the NIA is against the constitution and I condemn it".

NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday said decision was taken by the centre as it feared it would be "exposed". "I think the government fears it may be exposed. So the decision has been taken (to transfer the case to NIA)".

The Bhima Koregaon case involves violence that erupted near said place in Pune district on January 1, 2018, while Dalit groups were celebrating 200 years of a British-era battle.

The Pune police had filed cases against activists and intellectuals who gave speeches at Elgar Parishad, a gathering held on December 31, 2017, preceding the celebration.

They were accused of inciting violence and subsequently picked up in raids conducted across the country.