The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday accused the Congress of having “sinned” after news reports surfaced that a leader at the recent Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting made critical remarks about Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on Jammu and Kashmir.
At a press conference at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi, party spokesperson Sambit Patra cited reports that Tariq Hameed Karra, a Kashmiri leader and a permanent invitee to the CWC, had credited Jawaharlal Nehru for Jammu and Kashmir’s integration with India and alleged that Patel wanted to keep the Valley out.
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Mr. Patra asked whether Congress president Sonia Gandhi or its former chief Rahul Gandhi objected when Mr. Karra “vilified” Patel and presented India’s first Home Minister as a “villain” while praising Nehru.
“Was Karra reprimanded. Will he be axed from the CWC”, Mr. Patra stated, accusing the Congress of constantly insulting leaders like Subhas Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel and Hindutva ideologue Veer Savarkar.
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The Congress, he alleged, had been reduced to being a party of a family and worked to advance the family’s rule. “What sort of mindset is this that one family has done everything and others have done nothing. What the CWC has done is a sin,” he added.
He noted that Mr. Karra also batted for Rahul Gandhi to take over as the Congress chief while lauding the contribution of the Nehru-Gandhi family and criticising Patel.
"This is the height of sycophancy," he said.
(With inputs from PTI)
