Amit Shah to Rahul Gandhi: Do you want to divide India

Launching a scathing attack on Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi over the JNU row, BJP president Amit Shah on Monday asked the Opposition party to clarify whether freedom of expression to it meant supporting the country’s division. He also asked if it meant supporting Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and such terror attacks and asked the Gandhis to apologise to the nation if their party was sensitive to the feelings of martyrs’ families.

Hitting back at the BJP president, the Congress said those once “externed by the Supreme Court over criminal charges” should not teach patriotism to the Congress, which has played a “stellar role” in the freedom movement.

Asserting that shouting anti-India slogans and favouring terrorists like Afzal Guru amounted to treason, the Bharatiya Janata Party president made it clear that his party would not allow such incidents in any part of the country.

“If Rahul Gandhi wants to support it in the name of freedom of expression, then I will ask the Congress party if there can be a bigger evidence of treason than the slogans which were shouted there... I want to ask Congress if it as a party supports the statements made by its vice-president, Rahul Gandhi It should answer this. I want to ask Rahul Gandhi, when you support treason in the name of freedom of expression then do you spare a thought for the families of those soldiers who have sacrificed their lives for the country,” Mr Shah asked.

Wondering how long the Congress would continue with its “vote-bank” politics, Mr Shah asked if it worries about “providing shelter” to anti-national activities while pursuing its vote-back politics. The BJP president maintained that Congress spokespersons were still supporting these anti-national activities and made a jibe at Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala for calling the Parliament attack convict “Afzal Guruji”.

“What is there in the heart at times comes out,” Mr Shah said. Earlier on Monday, Mr Shah in his blog wrote that the Congress vice-president had “proved” that national interest had no place in his mind and asked if he had joined hands with separatist forces and wanted another division of India.

Asking Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi a host of questions, Mr Shah demanded that he apologise for his stand on the JNU issue, saying support to anti-national forces in the name of the Left’s progressive ideology was not acceptable.