‘Impotent’ remark: Meant ‘inability’, says defiant Khurshid

New Delhi: A very defiant Salman Khurshid, in the middle of high political rhetoric over his use of the word ‘impotent’ to define Narendra Modi’s ‘failure’ to prevent the 2002 riots, continued to question on Wednesday the BJP’s ‘incapacity or lack of ability’ to stop what happened in Gujarat.

“I am not a doctor that I shall refer to a physical condition when I used the word napunsak. In political vocabulary, it translates to incapacity or lack of ability to prevent something,” the Union minister said in a television interview.

“Was Modi incapable of preventing what happened? Did he not have the power?” Khurshid questioned, adding his ‘napunsak’ comment was relevant only to Modi’s politics.

Trashing BJP president Rajnath Singh’s ‘readiness to apologise for past mistakes’, Khurshid said: “Why apologise only to Muslims? Apologise to the whole nation. If you apologise only to Muslims for what happened, then you are treating them as a votebank.”

Khurshid also demanded specifics. “What mistakes? Do you not know what mistakes you have made? Why don’t you make up your minds on what mistakes these were? We can tell you what mistakes you have made, you should reflect on them,” he said.

Khurshid had on Tuesday described Narendra Modi as "impotent", a remark that invited a sharp condemnation from the BJP.

The external affairs minister's fresh salvo against the BJP prime ministerial candidate at a rally in Farrukhabad came as he raised questions on the Gujarat chief minister's handling of the post-Godhra riots in 2002. Khurshid had once compared Modi to the proverbial frog just out of the well.

Without taking the name of Modi, Khurshid, who is a sitting MP from Farrukhabad, asked why a man who aspires to be the prime minister of the country could not do anything during the 2002 riots.

"Some people came, attacked and went, and you couldn't protect. Are you not a strong man?," the senior Congress leader asked.

"We don't accuse you (Modi) of killing people. Hamara aarop hai ki tum 'napunsak'(impotent) ho. (Our accusation is that you are impotent). You couldn't stop the killers," he added.

Modi's close aide and Gujarat minister Jay Narayan Vyas said Khurshid's "absolutely indecent comment" reflected the "frustration" of the Congress leaders ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

"They are so frustrated that they have lost control over their mind and tongue," Vyas, who is spokesman for the Gujarat government said, and recalled Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's tea seller jibe at Modi.

BJP leaders said Congress and its leaders have "forgotten manners and etiquettes" and asked if Sonia Gandhi approved of this comment. "The comment is not only regrettable but shameful, coming from a person who is the foreign affairs minister of India. It is a new low. I can understand their desperation but let me ask Sonia Gandhi does she approve of this comment. Khurshid should apologise for the kind of language he has used against Modi. The desperation is there and the people will give response," said BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad.

BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi advised Congress leaders to keep patience. "They are using this kind of language as they are frustrated...All the senior leaders and ministers are aware that they would be wiped out. This kind of statements will take them nowhere. "We would like to advise them to keep some patience. Elections will come and go, you shall reap what you sow. The people will account for your scams, your performance, your corruption with interests. Why are you so worried," he said.

Another senior BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain said that Congress and its leaders have "forgotten manners and etiquettes" and asked Rahul Gandhi whether he had imparted this kind of training to his leaders.

"Congress is forgetting manners and etiquettes. Congress and its leaders talk of Indian culture but the kind of words they use are against Indian culture. Khurshid has studied abroad, his party gives more importance to foreign values but no Congress leader has the right to tear apart Indian culture," Hussain said.

Condemning the statement, he asked whether Rahul Gandhi has imparted this kind of training to party leaders. "Did he ask his leaders and spokespersons that if they cannot fight Modi, they would resort to use of foul language. We would like to tell Soniaji and Rahul Gandhi that they should control their leaders and ask them to mind their language," he said.

Taking a jibe at Rahul Gandhi, BJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh said, "A man is one who fights a war, not one who runs away from the battlefield. The person, who you want to announce as your Prime Ministerial candidate, is running away ...then what would you call him, that is what is called impotent". "Khurshid should know who is a man. Modi has been declared our party's PM candidate and he is challenging everyone and not running away like your prince," he said.

BJP leader Prakash Javdekar asked whether the Gandhi family approves of these kind of comments. "Everybody is condemning the indecent remarks of Khurshid against Modi and we are asking Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi whether this is the Congress culture they approve of. When people are staring at defeat, they lose their balance and start abusing." “Those who abuse are downgraded in the public mind, not the person who they are abusing. Because abuse is the weakest point of anybody when he has no answers, where the logic stops, abuse begins. Therefore, every sane person in this country is condemning Khurshid, the way he is speaking, it shows their desperation," he said.