Lucknow: Terming BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi as Hitler and SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav as Mussolini, Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma on Sunday alleged that the two leaders have a tacit understanding to polarise votes.
"Hitler has been born in Indian politics, so has Mussolini in Uttar Pradesh. The two leaders had a friendship, and their reincarnations are the same, but of modern type," Beni alleged, while talking to the reporters here.
"He (Modi) has become a dictator of Gujarat and Muslims can't dare to speak against Hitler," he said. Responding to the remarks, BJP flayed Beni for comparing Modi with Hitler.
"Before saying so, he should have thought about Modi's popularity and his stature," BJP's chief spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said. "The minister, who is alleging understanding between BJP and SP, should not forget that his own party (Congress) is having outside support from Mulayam. In fact, his own party does not take Beni seriously," Pathak said.
Taking a dig at BJP patriarch L K Advani, Beni said the person, who did not attend Goa meeting of BJP Parliamentary Board where Modi was named as the head of 2014 poll campaign committee and had sent his resignation, was now flagging off the 'Run for Unity'.
"Today the terror of Hitler is such that no one can dare to speak in RSS or BJP," he said. The minister said Modi, who has new found love for Sardar Patel, does not talk about Mahatma Gandhi.
"Gandhi made Patel the Home Minister of the country, who is all powerful, even more than the Prime Minister. It was Patel who was most grieved when Gandhi was assassinated," he said.
Beni alleged that the recent Muzaffarnagar riots were the result of friendship between 'Hitler' and 'Mussolini'. Regarding Congress' debacle in assembly elections of four states, Beni said it was the result of internal sabotage.
"Let the Parliament end. Rahul Gandhi is going to make a major reshuffle across the country," Beni said. When asked about Aam Aadmi Party's performance in Delhi elections, he said he would not talk about "aam" (mango) and "amrood" (guava).
He said Manmohan Singh government had launched a number of programmes, but Congress was not able to publicise its policies properly. While claiming that Congress would win 50 seats in UP in Lok Sabha elections, he said SP would find it difficult to win even two seats in the state.
"While the BJP's prime ministerial candidate is hoisting flag from a duplicate Red Fort, Rahul Gandhi will do the same at a real one on Independence Day," he said.
