If someone formed govts by setting fire, it is Congress: Rajnath Singh hits back at Rahul Gandhi

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Congress President Rahul Gandhi

A day after Rahul Gandhi’s elevation as Congress President, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday hit back at the Gandhi-Nehru scion for blaming the BJP for spreading hate and creating differences based on communal lines in the country.

“I want to congratulate him (Rahul Gandhi) but also ask- did the fire of communalism, terrorism and naxalism in India erupt due to BJP’s policies?,” Singh was quoted as saying by ANI. Questioning Rahul’s allegations and shrugging off any responsibility of BJP in spreading communalism in India, Singh said, “Did fire erupt in Kashmir due to BJP’s policies? If someone formed governments by setting fire, it is Congress. BJP is trying to douse it.”

Passing the buck to the grand old party for playing a divisive politics in Karnataka and not taking action in the murder cases of Paresh Mesta, a youth whose mutilated body was found near a lake in Honnavar, and journalist Gauri Lankesh, who was shot dead outside her home in Bengaluru, Singh assured that the culprits will be punished under the BJP regime. Read | Rajnath Singh accuses Karnataka govt of communally polarising State

Singh also castigated the Siddaramaiah administration for fooling the Muslim community with the promise of reservation in jobs and education sector.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi, who took over the party reins on Saturday, said that the BJP’s politics is that of hatred while the Congress has always worked to spread a feeling of love and unity in the nation and brought it into the 21st century. He accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of having hampered the progress and of taking the country back to ‘medieval past’. Read | In first speech as Congress president, Rahul Gandhi assails ‘politics of hate’

Taking on BJP’s alleged inflammatory politics, Gandhi said, “You have an example before you. Ek baar aag lag jaati hai, to usey bujhana bahut mushkil hota hai,” he said. “This is what we are trying to make the BJP people understand. Ek baar aapne desh main aag lagaa di, to usko bujhana bahut mushkil hota hai. Today, the BJP is trying to spread fire and violence across the country, and there is only one force that can stop it — the workers of the Congress and its leaders.

“They divide, we unite. They ignite fires, we douse them. They show anger, we show love. That is the difference between us and them,” Rahul said.