Rahul says Modi is 'casteist', BJP calls Cong fast a 'farce'

The Congress' 'fast for harmony' led to fresh acrimony today with party president Rahul Gandhi accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being anti-Dalit and the ruling BJP mocking him for staging a "farce" while its leaders ate "chhola bhaturas".

Gandhi led his party's nationwide daylong fast outside Rajghat against caste-based violence, communalism and non-functioning of Parliament, for which it blamed the ruling BJP, and to promote peace and harmony in the country.

He accused the prime minister of being "casteist" and "anti-Dalit" and said his party would always stand against the BJP's ideology and defeat it in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The 1984 anti-Sikh riots cast a shadow over the 'Sadhbhavna Upvas' (fast for harmony) with Congress leaders Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler, listed as accused for their alleged role in the riots, being asked to stay away from the stage where Gandhi and the other leaders were sitting.

While Kumar left the venue soon thereafter, Tytler sat in the audience along with party workers.

It gave the BJP the ammunition it was looking for, with party spokesperson Sambit Patra mocking Gandhi's fast as a "farce" and describing the party's decision to keep Kumar and Tytler away from the main dais as its "admission of guilt".

According to Gandhi, who spent several hours at Mahatma Gandhi's memorial, the Congress was fasting against the BJP's ideology.

"We are standing here today and will stand against it all our life and we will defeat them in the 2019 elections," Gandhi told reporters.

"A few days ago, a BJP leader said opposition leaders are animals. The truth is that today every person in India is standing against the government, whose approach is against the Dalits, tribals, minorities and farmers," he said, a reference to BJP president Amit Shah's recent speech equating opposition parties to various animals, including mongoose and snakes.

Gandhi also alleged that the atmosphere created in the country was because of the BJP's ideology "to divide the country and crush Dalits, crush tribals and minorities".

Asked about BJP's Dalit MPs writing to Modi, he said, "When you talk to them in Parliament, they tell us that Modi ji is a casteist and is 'anti-Dalit'. Modi ji does not have any place in his heart for Dalits. The entire nation knows this."
"What we have seen from Rahul Gandhi today is not a fast but the farce of a fast. (It was) an attempt by his party to fast track his politics to burnish his credentials despite people rejecting him time and again."