Congress is Anti-Sanatan, Anti-Ram: BJP President J P Nadda

Hyderabad: In a scathing attack on Congress, BJP president J P Nadda on Monday alleged that the grand old party is "anti-Sanatan" and "anti-Ram" and that it joins hands with anti-national forces.

Nadda, who addressed election rallies at Peddapalli and Bhongir in Telangana, also said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accusing the BJP of seeking to end reservations is a case of pot calling the kettle black.

Referring to the Poonch terror attack two days ago, Nadda said a former Punjab Chief Minister (Charanjit Singh Channi) called it a stunt. "Such anti-national leader of Congress, (they) mislead the country like this." When Balakot air strikes were carried out, Congress leaders shamelessly sought proof, he said.

He further claimed that when the Batla House encounter happened in Delhi (in 2008) and terrorists were eliminated, Congress leader Salman Khurshid stated that Sonia Gandhi 'cried bitterly'. "(Crying) for whom, terrorists," Nadda asked.

In a veiled reference to the recent comments of Maria Alam, Salman Khurshid's niece and a leader of the Samajwadi Party, appealing for 'vote jihad' in favour of the INDIA bloc candidate, he asked whether such people can be allowed to come to the front.

"They first did land jihad, then love jihad and now they started vote jihad," he said.

When slogans like 'Afzal ham sharminda hai, tere katil jinda hai' (We are ashamed, your murderers are alive) were raised in JNU, Rahul Gandhi goes and stands with such persons. Also, when slogans like 'Bharat honge tukde, tukde' (India will break into pieces) were raised in the same university, he gave tickets to them to fight elections, he claimed.

"They have nothing to do with the country. All these people are doing vote bank politics, appeasement politics," he said.

Hitting out the previous UPA regime, Nadda said it had submitted an affidavit in the court that Lord Ram is imaginary and that there is no historical and scientific evidence.

"The Congress is an anti-Ram party. Congress is anti-Sanatan. Congress is such a party that joins hands with anti-national forces" Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi remained silent when DMK leader Udayanidhi Stalin compared Sanatan with HIV, dengue and malaria, he said.

Describing the Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM, BRS and Congress as 'ABC', he charged that they drive the agenda of the Muslim League ('ye sabhi teeno ke teeno Muslim League ka agenda chalane wali party yaan hai' in Hindi). All of them follow the 'principles and policies' of Tablighi Jamaat and the parties disturb the mainstream, he claimed.

"All of them, are they not supporters of Razakars," he asked.

The Razakars were the private militia of the Nizam of erstwhile Hyderabad state in pre-independent India.

These parties cannot celebrate 'liberation day' on September 17 (the day erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad under Nizam rule merged with the Indian Union in 1948) and the BJP, when it forms government in Telangana, would celebrate the day on a grand scale, he said.

Referring to Rahul Gandhi's remarks that the BJP would end reservations, Nadda said 'ulte chor kotwal ko dante' (pot calling the kettle black).

The Congress "hijacked" the reservations of Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs time and again, he alleged.

When the Congress was in power in undivided Andhra Pradesh in 2004, it robbed SC, ST, OBCs of their reservations and gave them to Muslims, he said.

In Karnataka, the grand old party curtailed the reservation of OBCs and gave it to Muslims, but the BJP government did away with it and gave the OBCs their rights. However, incumbent Chief Minister Siddaramaiah again gave that reservation to Muslims, he alleged.

"Who is doing the theft?," he asked.

PM Modi has recently said that the Congress should give it in writing that it would never meddle with SC, ST, OBC reservations, but the grand old party has not been able to answer that, Nadda said, and alleged that for their political benefit, they are conspiring to take the country towards a new division.

At Choutuppal rally, Nadda said as long as BJP, under the leadership of Modi, is there, nobody will be able to rob the reservations of SC, ST, OBCs and that they will get it fully.

Babasaheb Ambedkar had said that there will be no reservations on the basis of religion, Nadda said.

The BJP leader spoke extensively on the development programmes and achievements of Modi government.

He highlighted several achievements of the government, including 25 crore people who have emerged out of poverty and the construction of four crore houses in the country.