Congress defends Rahul, says PM ‘misused machinery’

Unfazed by the Election Commission’s notice, the Congress on Monday justified party vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s attack on the BJP in the Bihar elections and said the poll body should not have allowed “blatant misuse of machinery” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Party spokesman Anand Sharma said there was “nothing wrong” in Mr Gandhi’s statement as it was a part of the political discourse. The Prime Minister should’ve been given a notice instead as his speeches in Bihar have been “seeds for dividing people by selectively targeting minority community”, he said.

The EC had on Sunday issued a showcause notice to Mr Rahul Gandhi for his remarks that the BJP makes Hindus and Muslims fight each other and said prima facie the Congress vice-president has violated the provisions of the model code of conduct in force for the Bihar polls.

Noting that the EC has a constitutional mandate for holding free and fair polls, Mr Sharma said the commission should have “not allowed blatant misuse of machinery by the Prime Minister”.

He said the Prime Minister twice made policy statements through his Mann Ki Baat programme on public broadcaster All-India Radio.

Also, AIR and Doordarshan telecast live RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s Dussehra address “which only talked about the so-called achievements of the Modi government,” he alleged. “Why did the Election Commission fail to prevent this blatant misuse ” Mr Sharma asked.

He also hit back at the PM on the anti-Sikh riots issue, saying like in the 2002 post-Godhra violence, Mr Modi has “forgotten Raj Dharma” in 2015 too as he was an “endorser of intolerance by his studied silence” over acts of hate and violence.

He accused the PM of doing “lasting damage” to the country’s social fabric by “selective targeting of the minority community”.

“The Prime Minister’s statement is politically motivated and mischievous and is only aimed at reopening the wounds after 31 years” Mr Sharma told reporters after Mr Modi raked up the 1984 anti-Sikh riots issue.

Mr Sharma accused the PM of raising the issue of ‘84 anti-Sikh riots to “divert attention” from rising concerns over the orchestrated campaign to instill fear and to intimidate.

He regretted that the PM has “chosen not to respond” to concerns of people belonging to cross-sections of society who do not belong to any political party.

“He should act. As Prime Minister of India, he should not be thinking or acting like a BJP leader or a RSS pracharak. He should fulfill his constitutional and moral duty as India’s Prime Minister”, Mr Sharma said.

Reminding Mr Modi of the the former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s advise to follow “Raj Dharma”, in 2002 whem Mr Modi was the Gujarat chief minister .he said Mr Modi had forgotten Vajpayee’s message after the communal riots.

“Like in 2002, Modi has forgotten Raj Dharma in 2015,” he said alleging that the PM is an “endorser of intolerance by his studied silence.”