New Delhi: The BJP on Sunday said that the Congress had lost the moral right to remain a political party after its president Mallikarjun Kharge's remarks on the scrapping of Article 370, even as the Congress said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “rattled” by its ‘Paanch Nyay’ guarantees and was making “baseless” statements against it in desperation to “save his chair”.
The party's reaction came as Prime Minister Modi alleged that the Congress poll manifesto bore the imprint of the Muslim League and utterances of its leaders showed hostility towards national integrity and Sanatan Dharma.
BJP national spokesperson Sudhansu Trivedi said, "Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said what difference does it make here (in Rajasthan) with the removal of Article 370. If a party says what difference does integration of Kashmir make in other states, it's clear that you (Congress) have no respect for the oath taken by everyone for the unity and integrity of the country."
“After Mr Kharge's remarks on Article 370, the Congress, which has almost lost the status or the right to be a national party, has now also lost the right to be even a political party from a moral point of view," Trivedi alleged. He claimed that the Congress can now call itself a conglomeration of the regional forces.
Trivedi said that with the abrogation of Article 370, the Modi government had fulfilled the BJP's resolve of national integration. “This is the difference between our thinking and their (Congress') thinking," Trivedi said.
Responding to Modi’s attack, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, “The people of India are now tired of the Prime Minister's lies. After June 4, he will have to go on long leave. This is the guarantee of the people of India!”
Ramesh said the Congress' 'Paanch Nyay Pachees Guarantee' was awakening a new hope among the people of India after 10 years of “injustice”.
The Congress' guarantees were the need of the hour and this is the voice of the suffering people of the country, he said in a post in Hindi on X. “Rattled by this guarantee card, the Prime Minister is saying baseless things in his desperation to save his chair,” Ramesh said.
On the issue of Congress president Kharge’s remarks, Union home minister Amit Shah had on Saturday dubbed them as ‘shameful’. He said that Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India and that every state and citizen had a right over it. just as the people of Jammu and Kashmir have a right over the rest of the country.
Shah and other BJP leaders, including party president J P Nadda, had shared the short clip of Kharge's speech on X, in which he is heard targeting the ruling party for talking about the abrogation of Article 370.
"Are bhai, yahan ke logon se kya wasta hai (what has it got to do with the people here)?" Mr Kharge is heard asking in the clip. The Congress chief also referred to Article 371 instead of Article 370. However, Jairam Ramesh said the BJP wanted to abrogate Article 371, which provide special status to different regions. He pointed out that Kharge had secured Article 371 status for the Hyderabad-Karnatak region.
Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters in the national capital, spokesperson Trivedi took potshots said, "The Congress is perhaps scared of 370 now and perhaps out of frustration, he referred to it as 371".
The BJP leader also launched a fresh salvo at the Congress over its alliance with the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and said that Prime Minister Modi's charge that the Congress' Lok Sabha poll manifesto bore the Muslim League's imprint was "absolutely correct".
"This (IUML) is the same Muslim League which was led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah before independence. After independence, only its name changed, not its work," he said, adding "Our Prime Minister is absolutely correct. The Congress has the same feeling that the Muslim League had".
