Kolar: AICC President Rahul Gandhi visit Kurudumale Ganesha temple, during an election campaign ahead of Karnataka Assembly elections in Kolar on Saturday. (Source: PTI Photo)
Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday slammed Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah for his remarks equating the opposition parties to ‘snakes’, ‘mongoose’, ‘dogs’ and ‘cats’. Gandhi called the animal remark by Shah a “disrespectful statement”.
“Calling the entire opposition animals…see according to Amit Shah and the basic vision of the BJP-RSS – there are only two non-animals in this country. There is Mr Narendra Modi and there is Mr Amit Shah,” Gandhi told reporters at Kolar Gold Fields in Karnataka.
He further said, “Everybody else as far as they are concerned are animals. That’s fine, that is the way they look at the world. It is a disrespectful statement, but we don’t take what Mr Amit Shah says with too much seriousness.”
Taking a swipe at Shah, Gandhi said it was the mentality that there were only two or three people in this country “who are worth anything, who understand everything and everybody else is a worthless person”. “It’s not only Dalits, it’s tribals, it’s minorities. It doesn’t stop there. It’s Mr Advani, Mr Manohar Joshi, even Mr Gadkari, it’s everybody,” he said.
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Kolar: AICC President Rahul Gandhi (C) along with Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramiah (2nd from R) and other leaders during their visit at Kurudumale Ganesha temple in Kolar, Karnataka on Saturday. (Source: PTI photo)
The Congress chief said, “The thing is that the BJP people internally don’t have guts to say it to you. They say it to us.” “The fact of the matter is between Mr Amit Shah and Mr Modi, they are convinced, there are only two human beings in this country. That’s all, that’s the reality,” he said.
On Friday, Shah had made stinging comments against the Opposition parties, which are making efforts to form a coalition to take on the BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha polls, by equating them to animals. “The countdown for 2019 Lok Sabha elections has begun. All the opposition parties are continuously calling for unity to defeat the BJP. I had heard a tale that when a devastating flood comes, all the trees, plants, leaves, etc flow away and then all animals including snake, mongoose, dog, cat, Cheetah, Lion jumps on a single banyan tree because they all are scared of the water below the tree. Similarly, our PM has created fear within the opposition, which is now teaming up to fight the BJP in the election,” Shah had said while speaking at the BJP’s foundation day in Mumbai.
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Later on Friday evening, the remark drew a furious reaction from Congress senior spokesperson Anand Sharma who said it was “shameful” and speak of Shah’s mindset. He accused Shah of dragging political discourse to a new low. “The remarks made by Amit Shah are condemnable. It shows their mindset. They have repeatedly dragged the political discourse to a new low. It is shameful. What else do we expect from them. It is in their DNA,” Sharma said.
Also Read | Amit Shah’s animal remarks on opposition speak of his mindset, shameful: Congress
However, Shah later sought to explain his remarks by saying that he had referred to parties such as SP-BSP and Congress-TMC, which are ideologically on opposite sides but forced to come together to counter “Modiji’s influence”.
(With inputs from PTI)