Rahul Gandhi’s dig at Rajnath, PM: Aren’t you doing the same?

New Delhi: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi continued his tirade against the government on Sunday, saying while he agrees with Union home minister Rajnath Singh that Pakistan is trying to divide India along religious lines, the senior minister and his “boss” Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also been doing the same.

“Yes Rajnath Singhji Pakistan is trying to divide India along religious lines; has it struck you that you & your boss have been doing the same?” Mr Gandhi said agreeing with the home minister that Pakistan has been “conspiring” to divide India on religious lines.

Mr Singh said at a function in Kathua that Pakistan was conspiring to divide India on religious lines but it will not succeed. We were divided in 1947 on religious basis. We have not been able to forget that... All Indians are brothers, whether they are born from the womb of a Hindu mother or a Muslim mother.

The home minister also said that India has always wanted to have friendly relations with its neighbours, but Pakistan has betrayed India and returned peace initiatives with terrorist attacks.

Referring to the invitation extended to Saarc countries for the oath-taking ceremony of Narendra Modi, he said this was done because “we realised if we want to make India a powerful country we need cooperation of all neighbouring countries”.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi, before the formation of the government, had held a party meeting and we decided if we want to make India a powerful country we need cooperation of all the neighbouring countries. So we decided to invite all the neighbouring heads of state/government and we invited Nawaz Sharif also, and he had come,” Mr Singh said.