PM Modi slams Congress for 'muslim-party' remark; stop lying, it responds

Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman too attacked Rahul Gandhi over his alleged remarks of Congress being a 'Muslim party' reported in an Urdu daily and said that he should clarify his comments

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday called the Congress a party for Muslims over alleged remarks by Rahul Gandhi and accused it of wanting continuance of practices like triple talaq, during a speech in Uttar Pradesh's Azamgarh while laying the foundation for Purvanchal Expressway.

"For the last two days, I am hearing that a naamdar leader (a sarcastic reference to Rahul Gandhi) recently said that the Congress is a party of Muslims. I'm not surprised. Even former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh once said that Muslims have the first right over nation's natural resources," Modi said.

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh at the meeting of the National Development Council in 2006 had said: "We will have to devise innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are empowered to share equitably in the fruits of development. They must have the first claim on resources."

He also wondered whether the Congress was interested only in the welfare of Muslim men and not women.

"But I want to ask the naamdar of Congress, please tell that is the party only for Muslim men? Because they don't stand with Muslim women on issues of triple talaq and Nikah halala," he added.

Senior party leader and Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman too attacked Rahul Gandhi over his alleged remarks reported in an Urdu daily and said that Rahul should clarify his comments and that he was on a course-correction.

"This needs to be clarified, probably he wants to say that to call himself a Janeu-dhari (a Hindu who wears the sacred thread) was wrong, probably he wants to say now he is Muslim dhari," she told a press conference.

Congress, on the other hand, hit back at Modi alleging that the prime minister was spreading the "poison of hatred and division," sensing defeat in the next election.

Congress has termed BJP's allegations that party chief Rahul Gandhi had described the Congress as a "Muslim party" as "concocted and lies".

Reacting to the remarks, Congress's communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala said the prime minister was lying by using the names of Rahul Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh.

He said the prime minister looks "desperate" sensing defeat in the next polls, and was seen spreading the "poison of hatred and division" in the society.

He alleged that prime minister Modi was blinded by his desire to take revenge on Rahul Gandhi.

While both the opposition and the ruling party exchanged blows over the controversy, historian S Irfan Habib tweeted that Rahul was wrongly being accused of calling Congress a Muslim party in a meeting where Habib himself was present.

"Taken aback to hear that Rahul Gandhi is being accused of calling the Congress a Muslim party in a meeting where I was present. It seems to have malicious intent, no such issue came up at all." he tweeted.

Similarly, activist and writer Farah Naqvi has refuted BJP's claims against Rahul Gandhi in an article written for TheWire.in.

"For the record, let’s bury the cynical fake news about Rahul Gandhi or anyone else present having said at that meeting that the Congress is a ‘Muslim party’, even though it would be interesting to speculate if Sitharaman seriously believes that such a party would have any democratic future at all in a country where 86 per cent of the population are non-Muslims," she says.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister also accused the opposition parties of not allowing Parliament to function. "They don't allow the Parliament to function. They stall the proceedings," he alleged.

Opposition leaders hit back at him and accused him of resorting to foul means to gain political advantage.

Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) chief Mayawati said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is inaugurating several projects in Uttar Pradesh solely to gain electoral benefit.

"BJP government has started inaugurating projects in Uttar Pradesh only now when general elections are near. Prime Minister has laid the foundation stone of Purvanchal Expressway today. Had they done this in 2014 itself, then instead of laying foundation stone today he would have been inaugurating it," she said.

Ghanshyam Tiwari of Samajwadi Party (SP) also criticised the Prime Minister and said he gave 'tooti-footi Vikas' (incomplete development) to the country and the states, where the BJP is ruling.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader D Raja accused the Prime Minister of denigrating the dignity of the Prime Minister of the country.

"The Prime Minister should show some dignity and should rise above petty considerations," he said. With agency inputs