Shah asks Cong not to involve other nations in India's politics

BJP chief Amit Shah today asked the Congress not to involve foreign nations in India's domestic politics as he wondered why the party involved Pakistan in such matters.

Shah tweeted screenshots of Pakistan government paying tributes to Tipu Sultan, who ruled parts of present day Karnataka, on his death anniversary yesterday and Mani Shankar Aiyar's reported praise of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of the neighbouring country.

"The Congress and Pakistan have amazing telepathy. Yesterday, Pakistan government remembered Tipu Sultan, whose jayanti (birth anniversary) the Congress marks with fanfare and today Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar admires Jinnah. Be it Gujarat or Karnataka polls, I fail to understand why Congress involves Pakistan," he claimed.

Shah, in his tweets, also referred to a meeting of Congress leaders with Pakistani officials during the Gujarat polls last year.

"During Gujarat elections we saw how dinner meetings with topmost Pakistan officials were held to defeat the BJP and now the mutual love for Tipu Sultan and Jinnah. I appeal to the Congress not to involve foreign nations in our domestic politics. Let's keep the discourse civil and positive," he said.

The Congress had then rejected the BJP's charge, voiced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi among others, and accused it of deliberately bringing Pakistan into the election discourse to polarise voters.

The BJP chief's comments come amid a row over the presence of Jinnah's portrait in Aligarh Muslim University, with his party's leaders demanding its removal.

The saffron party has also sought to corner the Congress government in Karnataka for holding events to commemorate the former Mysore king's birth anniversary. BJP leaders have claimed that Tipu Sultan was involved in atrocities against Hindus.