Stop acting as 'contract killer' of idea called India: BJP to Rahul Gandhi

The BJP today launched a furious attack on Rahul Gandhi after the Congress president compared it and its ideological mentor RSS with the radical Islamist outfit Muslim Brotherhood, accusing him of acting as a "contract killer of the idea called India" for his attempt to present them as a terror organisation.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said likes of President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who died last week, have a Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) background and Gandhi's comparison of the organisation with an Islamist outfit at an event in London is "unforgivable".

Addressing the media, Patra demanded immediate apology from the Congress president for likening the choice of Indians in an election with an organisation which, the BJP leader added, is declared a terror outfit in many countries.

He asked if Gandhi has taken a 'supari' (contract for killing) for India.

"Stop this job of acting as a contract killer of the idea called India," he said.

Instead of being a proud Indian leader on foreign countries, the Congress president has been attempting to insult and belittle India abroad, he alleged.

"India is asking you is some terrorist organisation ruling India? It is a democratically elected government. Is this government, is this choice of people of India for a terror organisation," he asked.

Patra said Gandhi has no maturity and understanding whatsoever of India and has no leadership quality.

The only quality he has, the BJP leader said, is hatred towards Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the RSS and his irresponsible and immature remarks were an outcome of this.

The "frustration" shown by the Congress leader ahead of next year's Lok Sabha polls is similar to his party's desperation in 2013 ahead of the general elections in 2014 when it had allegedly accused the RSS of running terror camps and coined the term "Hindu terrorism", Patra said.

"Why you have such hatred for democracy... Why you hate Hindus?" he asked.

What Gandhi has said will be headlines in Pakistan's media tomorrow, he claimed, and alleged that the Congress president had an sense of entitlement and could not tolerate Modi as prime minister as he came from a poor background and a backward community.

Patra also targeted Gandhi for his criticism of Modi's handling of Pakistan, and said he should have been a proud Indian and attacked not the prime minister but the neighbouring country for its support to terrorism.

With his charge of vendetta politics against the government, the Congress leader has given a handle to lawyers of fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya, who is wanted in India for economic crimes and is currently based in London.