Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Saturday became the latest detractor of AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi for the latter’s alleged Hindu terror remark. Mr Modi, whom Rahul had called “an evil leader” and compared him with Mao Tse-tung, said that the Congress leader was responsible for the US’ support to Pakistan.
Mr Modi was in Mumbai to attend a function, where while interacting with reporters, he said, “The whole world knows that Pakistan has been aiding and abetting terrorist organisations. Despite this, the US has always supported Pakistan. Now, it is clear why it was doing so — because of misinformation given by Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders. They have caused the biggest loss to the country.”
Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray also did not miss the chance to attack the Congress general secretary for his remarks. In a statement, Mr Thackeray said, “The slap that he got in the Bihar Assembly elections has left a four-fingered impression on his face. It seems that he wants the impression of the fifth finger as well from Hindu terrorists.”
Mr Thackeray alleged that the Nehru-Gandhi family had always appeased Muslim extremists and that they are responsible for encouraging extremists in this country. “Mr Gandhi should not act over-smart. If he attacks Hindus, they will retaliate and tackle him by the horns,” Mr Thackeray said.
Jointing the bandwagon to attack Mr Gandhi was also the BJP’s observer for Maharashtra M. Venkaiah Naidu.
He said that Mr Gandhi lacks knowledge of India. “Mr Gandhi needs to understand India. But he seems to be able to achieve that only by pulling few stunts. India is a country with one billion people and therefore it will take him some time to understand it. Till then, he should not make comments on such issues,” Mr Naidu said.
Mr Naidu also said that there is a pattern in the comments made by all Congress leaders, including Mr Gandhi, Digvijay Singh and Union home minister P. Chidambaram. “They are systematically making these comments. We know about Mr Singh’s comments about the Batla House encounter and the death of ATS chief Hemant Karkare. Mr Chidambaram spoke about ‘saffron terror’. Now, Mr Gandhi is talking about Hindu extremists being a bigger threat than Lashkar-e-Tayyaba.”
The whole world knows that Pakistan constantly tries to imbibe a feeling of hatred among youths and tries to push them towards terrorism. Mr Gandhi is just speaking Pakistan’s language,” he said.