Narendra Modi continued to be slammed for his “Hindu nationalist” and “puppy” remarks, with several political parties, including Congress and JD(U), saying his comments are dangerous and that he was a “frustrated” person.
Interestingly, senior BSP leader and MP Vijay Bahadur Singh came out in support of the Gujarat chief minister, saying his “puppy” remark showed he was a “sensitive” person and those attacking him were “anti-national”.
Slamming Modi’s remarks on Gujarat riots, senior Congress leader and minority affairs minister Rahman Khan said in Bengaluru, “He (Modi) is not a stable man. He doesn’t know what he wants to convey to the people. Sometimes he is a Hindu nationalist and sometimes a nationalist.”
Modi had stirred up a political storm by saying in an interview that he had done “absolutely the right thing” during the 2002 Gujarat riots and describing himself as a “Hindu nationalist”.
Modi had also said that even if a “puppy comes under the wheel of a car, one feels sad”, when asked whether he regretted the 2002 riots. The comment was seen as comparing Muslims with puppies.
“It reflects the person’s thinking. It also shows he (Modi) is a frustrated person,” Khan said.
Khan’s party colleague Digvijay Singh said Modi should not “divide the nation" on the basis of religion.
JD(U) leader Anwar Ali, while referring to Modi’s comment about being “Hindu nationalist”, said his remarks were dangerous as “Nathuram Godse was also a Hindu nationalist and he killed Mahatma Gandhi.”
Congress leader Satyavrat Chaturvedi said, “These are such vulgar comments that I do not even want to comment on it.”
However, Modi received support from an unexpected quarter when BSP MP Vijay Bahadur Singh said that the Gujarat chief minister’s “puppy” remarks showed that he was a “sensitive” person and his comments have been misinterpreted.
“If he says that he feels bad if a puppy gets crushed under the wheels of his car, then it shows that he is a sensitive and compassionate person. These are my personal views, but his remarks should not be misinterpreted. He is not referring to any community... His remarks are being misinterpreted,” Singh told PTI.
The BSP MP from Hamirpur in Uttar Pradesh said Modi’s statement is “100 per cent correct and it is in the interest of the nation. Those who oppose him are doing so for political interests. Those who oppose his remarks are ‘rashtra drohis’ (anti-national).”
Attacking the Congress for “twisting” Modi’s comments, BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said, “I knew that the Congress has a devilish mind but I did not know that their leaders do not even understand simple Hindi or English. The statement (by Modi) shows his compassion for all forms of life.”
BJP deputy leader in Rajya Sabha Ravishankar Prasad said the Congress and others criticising Modi are scared of him and “that is why we are seeing that they are in the habit of twisting their statements.”
BJD leader Jay Panda said there was nothing new in the remarks made by the Gujarat chief minister “as it is already well known that what he and his stand for and there is no need for us to comment on it.”