Former student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, who joined the Congress this week, on Friday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party can be defeated in any election, NDTV reported.
The Congress leader also said that he will “do tukde tukde” of the ruling party. Bharatiya Janata Party leaders often accuse their opponents and dissidents of being members of a “tukde tukde” gang, or a group of people trying to divide India.
“The BJP calls me ‘tukde-tukde gang’,” Kumar said in an interview to NDTV. “I am ‘tukde-tukde’ for the BJP, and I will do ‘tukde-tukde’ of BJP.”
Kumar claimed that the BJP considers Nathuram Godse – who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi in 1948 – as its father and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were a “Nathuram-bani jodi [a pair made by Nathuram Godse]”.
Further, Kumar said that Congress has always had the potential to defeat the BJP in the elections.
“Congress is the only opposition force with a national presence,” he said. “If I did not think they [BJP] could be defeated, I would have quit the fight. Congress, which has the legacy of winning freedom for the country, to save that freedom, that party must be the strongest.”
Kumar quit Communist Party of India to join the Congress.
He also defended Congress over the crisis in the party’s Punjab unit.
“Criticism of the Congress leadership helps the BJP,” he said. “Everybody understands that when the country’s biggest opposition party is Congress, the more successful Congress will be, the bigger the defeat BJP will face.”
Earlier this year, a tussle between former Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu and former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had thrown the Punjab unit of the Congress into a crisis.
Singh had stepped down as chief minister following differences with Sidhu that spanned two years. Charanjit Singh Channi was appointed as the new chief minister subsequently.
Sidhu resigned as the Punjab Congress chief on September 28, just two months after being appointed to the post.
He had reportedly been upset about the changes made to the Punjab Cabinet and appointments to the state administration. Sidhu was reportedly ignored when the Cabinet ministers were chosen.
Kumar will destroy Congress, says Rashtriya Janata Dal
Congress’ ally in Bihar, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, on Friday, said that Kumar was another Navjot Singh Singh, who “would destroy” the party, PTI reported.
Senior RJD leader Shivanand Tiwari said that Kumar joining the Congress would not make any difference to the party. “He can’t save the party,” Tiwari said. “Congress is a sinking ship and it has no future.”
The Congress is a part of the RJD-led opposition alliance that fought the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections together against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
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