Senior BJP leader and MP Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday criticised Congress MP Rahul Gandhi for planning a protest rally in Delhi on November 1, saying the date is sensitive for the Sikh community.
Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi, Prasad questioned why Gandhi wanted to hold the protest on that day. “Rahul Gandhi has an anarchist and Maoist mindset. Why does he want to create chaos on November 1?
He alleged that the Congress leader was “trying to rub salt on the wounds of Sikhs”. This is condemnable,” Prasad said. Prasad called the decision to go ahead with the rally “childish stubbornness” and said it showed Gandhi’s “true face”. “If he wants to disrespect Sikhs, he will do so,” the BJP leader said.
On police action
Prasad questioned the Ranganath Misra Commission’s inquiry into the riots and said that the SIT set up by the BJP-led government in 2015 resulted in compensation for the victims and punishment for the guilty.
Prasad also asked what Congress MP Imran Masood was doing at the Jamia Millia protests, where slogans such as “Free Sharjeel Imam” and “Azaadi” were raised. He asked whether Gandhi was “playing a hostile game with foreign countries to defame India”, and said, “Kashmir is and will remain part of India. Predicting a poor turnout at the rally, Prasad said, “I don’t think many people will come to the protest. He added that the Congress had lost in Assam, Puducherry and West Bengal, “so people know what they want”.
