Leading a day-long nationwide 'Upwas' of his party to highlight the “divisive politics” of the Narendra Modi government and the BJP, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday claimed that dalit MPs belonging to the saffron party call the prime minister a “casteist” and an “anti-dalit” person.
“The dalit MPs of BJP are writing letters to Modiji. Talk to them in Parliament, they tell us also, that Modiji is a casteist person, that he is an anti-dalit person. There is no place for dalits in Modiji's heart. The whole country knows it. This is no secret,” Rahul told reporters at the end of the symbolic fast.
The Congress president said the symbolic fast was observed to oppose the BJP's ideology, which he said is to divide the country and crush the dalits, adivasis and minorities. “We will always oppose this ideology. And we are going to defeat them in 2019,” he said.
Rahul also referred to BJP President Amit Shah's recent remarks about the opposition, saying, “Some days back, a BJP leader said that leaders in the opposition are animals. The truth is that every person in India today is standing in opposition to the government.”
The Congress president led the 'Upwas', which was held in all state and district headquarters, by joining the symbolic fast at Rajghat, which was organised by the Delhi unit of the Congress.
The fast was meant to highlight what the Congress claims is the threat to communal harmony under the Modi regime. It was held to counter the BJP's plan that its MPs would sit on a fast in their constituencies on April 12 to protest disruption of Parliament by the opposition, and to convey to the electorate the work done by the Modi government for uplift of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
The fast, however, had its share of controversy, with the BJP terming it a farce. The event at Rajghat saw drama as Congress leaders Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler turned up. In view of the irony of persons who are accused in the Sikh riots of Delhi participating in an event meant to promote communal harmony, many leaders began protesting against their presence on the stage, leading to a commotion. Ajay Maken finally asked the two leaders to leave.
The BJP was uninhibited in its criticism of the Congress with regard to the Upwas, accusing it of playing politics on dalit issues, and dividing the society in its effort to make a comeback.
The BJP's IT cell head Amit Malviya took a dig at Rahul, who reached the venue only at 1pm. Malviya tweeted, “I would love to know which leader says he will embark on a fast and does not reach the venue till 12:45! True to his style, Rahul Gandhi obviously woke up late.”
Delhi BJP leader Harish Khurana claimed that there was photographic evidence to show that Delhi Congress leaders, including state unit president Maken, and former ministers Arvinder Singh Lovely and Haroon Yusuf had a hearty breakfast of 'Chhole-Bhature' before arriving at Rajghat for the six-hour fast. Lovely said in defence that the leaders had the breakfast at 8am. “It is a symbolic fast from 10:30am to 4:30pm. It is not an indefinite hunger strike. Instead of running the country, they are focusing on what we are eating,” he said.