BJP attempting to divide India courtesy lust for power: Congress

The Congress on Monday backed its party vice-president Rahul Gandhi's assertion that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre is dividing India in the same manner as Pakistan and said some internal forces in their lust for power are attempting to create friction in the country on religious lines.

Asserting that Pakistan has been making such attempts since long to divide India on religious lines, Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit said Gandhi's statement is extremely important in the sense that we not only face danger from external forces such as Pakistan, but also from internal forces.

"The supreme position of which is occupied by the Prime Minister. These forces are trying to divide the country between Hindu-Muslims, majority-minority," he added.

Taking a jibe at Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the Congress vice-president yesterday said while he agrees that Pakistan is trying to divide India along religious lines, the Home Minister and his "boss" Prime Minister Narendra Modi have also been doing the same.

""Yes Rajnath Singhji Pakistan is trying to divide India along religious lines; has it struck you that you & your boss have been doing the same?" he tweeted.

The Congress vice-president's assertion came hours after the Home Minister accused Pakistan of trying to divide India again along religious lines, but stressed that the Asian neighbour would never succeed in its mission.

"Pakistan is under the wrong impression that it can divide India again on the basis of religion. India was divided on religious lines in 1947, but our heart refuses to accept it. Our heart says that anyone born in India, whether Hindu or Muslim, are brothers," he said in his addresses during a function to honour the families of martyrs of security forces at Kathua.