NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha on Monday witnessed rare Prime Minister Narendra Modi vs Rahul Gandhi faceoff over leader of opposition’s remarks allegedly “associating Hindus with violence.” Rahul’s remarks “Hinduism is not about spreading fear, hatred and falsehoods. Those who call themselves Hindus are engaged in “violence and hate round the clock,” triggered a strong uproar in the Lower House with the treasury benches vociferously objecting to his statement.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, perhaps for the first time, interjected and objected to leader of opposition’s remarks and said “Calling entire Hindu society violent is a serious issue.” However, Rahul Gandhi hit back immediately at the Prime Minister and said “BJP and Modi are not entire Hindu society.” “Narendra Modi is not entire Hindu society. BJP is not the entire Hindu society, RSS is not the entire society, this is not BJP’s contract,” the LoP said.
In a no-holds barred attack on the BJP, Rahul repeatedly cited Lord Shiva and said “darao mat (don’t scare people).” “If you look at Lord Shiva’s image you would know that Hindus can never spread fear, hatred but BJP spreads fear, hatred 24X7,” Rahul Gandhi said. He accused the BJP of threatening minorities, spreading hatred, violence against Muslims, Sikhs, Christians. The Congress leader emphasised that all religions talk about courage and cited Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism to underline the importance of fearlessness.
Home minister Amit Shah also attacked the leader of opposition and said crores of people take pride in being Hindus, does Rahul Gandhi think they are all violent. Amit invoked Emergency, 1984 anti-Sikh riots to assert that Rahul Gandhi has no right to talk about non-violence. He insisted that Rahul should apologize for this remarks.
However, unfazed by the attacks of treasury benches, Rahul continued with his attacks on the government. He spoke about Agniveer scheme, Manipur situation, farmers agitation, demonetisation and the NEET issue.
(With inputs from agencies)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, perhaps for the first time, interjected and objected to leader of opposition’s remarks and said “Calling entire Hindu society violent is a serious issue.” However, Rahul Gandhi hit back immediately at the Prime Minister and said “BJP and Modi are not entire Hindu society.” “Narendra Modi is not entire Hindu society. BJP is not the entire Hindu society, RSS is not the entire society, this is not BJP’s contract,” the LoP said.
In a no-holds barred attack on the BJP, Rahul repeatedly cited Lord Shiva and said “darao mat (don’t scare people).” “If you look at Lord Shiva’s image you would know that Hindus can never spread fear, hatred but BJP spreads fear, hatred 24X7,” Rahul Gandhi said. He accused the BJP of threatening minorities, spreading hatred, violence against Muslims, Sikhs, Christians. The Congress leader emphasised that all religions talk about courage and cited Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism to underline the importance of fearlessness.
Home minister Amit Shah also attacked the leader of opposition and said crores of people take pride in being Hindus, does Rahul Gandhi think they are all violent. Amit invoked Emergency, 1984 anti-Sikh riots to assert that Rahul Gandhi has no right to talk about non-violence. He insisted that Rahul should apologize for this remarks.
However, unfazed by the attacks of treasury benches, Rahul continued with his attacks on the government. He spoke about Agniveer scheme, Manipur situation, farmers agitation, demonetisation and the NEET issue.
(With inputs from agencies)