Press statement issued by Senior BJP Leader and Union Minister, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman

Press statement issued bySenior BJP leader and Union Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman

The BJP rejects the Press Statement of Smt. Sonia Gandhi accusing the Government of “unleashing assault on countrymen”.  It is a statement which is irresponsible and motivated aiming at quick political gains.  It is irresponsible because it accuses the Prime Minister and Home Minister of “deliberately spreading unrest” and charges the Government of being “the originator of violence”.

As a responsible Opposition Party, it is incumbent on Congress and Smt. Sonia Gandhi to call on all to maintain peace and calm and to ensure that the Congress Party does not provoke violence.  What the Party has actually done is to keep the perpetrators of mob violence during the anti-Sikh violence in Delhi next to their leadership even as they speak about violence.  This itself conveys the message of intending to provoke.

Congress must remember that Citizenship Amendment Act is a law passed by both the Houses of Parliament.

          Smt. Sonia Gandhi has failed to recognise that the Home Minister has met senior leaders of the North-Eastern States.  These leaders in their respective states, are with the people to help maintain calm. 

The BJP questions Smt. Sonia Gandhi and the Congress leadership as to what have they done to calm West Bengal and Delhi in particular.

Isn’t it true that Manmohan Singh had said on the floor of the House in 2003 in the context of Bangladeshi minority refugees that “It is our moral obligation that if circumstances force these people, these unfortunate people, to seek refuge in a country, our approach in granting citizenship to these unfortunate persons should be more liberal”.

Has Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Congress changed their stance from what their leader has spoken on the floor of the House?  Are Smt. Sonia Gandhi’s human rights reserved only for some and not for the oppressed Hindu Bengalis who have fled oppressionin a much inhuman and demeaning way and are for the last several decades languishing in camps all over the country?

Has Smt. Sonia Gandhi forgotten that when Dr.Manmohan Singh was visiting Bangladesh, an elected CM important to the context in which he was visiting Bangladesh refused to accompany him?  Does it mean that the elected CM dared the then PM and couldn’t Smt. Sonia Gandhi convince that CM then? 

Does Smt. Sonia Gandhi’s politics completely rely on opportunism where she has one standard for herself and her party and different for others? 

Smt. Sonia Gandhi isshedding crocodile tears for students.  Wasn’t it during the time of Mrs. Indira Gandhi that the students of a Central University in Delhi were sent to Tihar Jail?  Police had entered the University and one whole academic year had to be declared null and void.

 

Has Smt. Sonia Gandhi forgotten that during the Emergency, a brilliant student of REC, Calicut was tortured and despite a habeas corpus by his father, the student remains untraced till today?  Does she hold herself and her party responsible for the then police excesses in Kerala?  Does her heart weep for this boy or her tears are reserved only for a special group living at her backyard in Delhi. It is ironic that Smt. Sonia Gandhi speaks about breaking of the Constitution.  What could be more untrue than this statement?  She, who ran a “Kitchen Cabinet” in the name of National Advisory Council (NAC) which had no statutory or constitutional basis, should know better.  Who can ever forget that the “Kitchen Cabinet” drafted a Communal Violence Bill singularly aimed at targeting the Hindus of this country and tocreate communal tension.  Congress’s politics of appeasement also made the then PM to remark that the minorities must have first claim on the resources of this country.  It is worth recollecting that during the Emergency, after the tenure of LokSabha was over, holding a constitutionally untenable extended session, amendments to the Constitution’s Preamble were made in the LokSabha, which was held with brute force after putting all Opposition leaders in jail. 

It is only brazen and ironic that Smt. Sonia Gandhi is talking about “breaking the Constitution”.  The BJP would like to remind her to look into the history of the party she heads.  Has she forgotten the 1983 gruesometorture and mass murder of about 2000 people belonging to fourteen villages in Nellie, Assam?  Has the Congress Party expressed remorse or taken action to punish those who killed those Bengali Muslims.  Not one person has been punished for the crimes of Nellie, Assam till today.  It is worth remembering that the power hungry Congress Party held a controversial State election against the wishes of many, in the midst of Assam agitation.  Smt. Sonia Gandhi remained silent for all these years and had no thoughts for “peace, law and order”. 

Why does the Congress Party forget that it was its President who went to stand by the side of ‘Break India’ fringe groups in a Central University in Delhi?  Would any of the past Congress Presidents have even supported this? Yet she saw her son in the capacity of President of Congress Party aligning with fringe groups which claim that they are “waging a war against India”.  In the UPA Government which she remote controlled, food inflation had reached double digit, economic resources were beneficial only for the cronies and rampant corruption furthered poverty.  It is her opportunism that is talking today.  It is unfortunate that the party which should be playing a responsible role in taking this country forward, is playing opportunistic politics.  

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