Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday mocked Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s claim that India’s borders were well protected and said that everyone knows the “reality of the situation”. Shah made the claim while addressing the people of Bihar in his first virtual rally on Sunday, ahead of the Assembly elections in the state.
“India’s defence policy has gained global acceptance,” the home minister had said. “The whole world agrees that after United States and Israel if there is any other country that is able to protect its borders, it is India.”
The remark came at a time when tensions between India and China have been at an all-time high over the border standoff in Eastern Ladakh. On Saturday, the two sides held high-level military talks in order to resolve the matter.
Gandhi accused Shah of being delusional and said the thought “is good to keep the heart happy”. “Everybody knows what the reality is,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Congress on Sunday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of using money and political clout at a time when the country is grappling the coronavirus pandemic, and termed Shah’s rally an insult to the people of Bihar.
Party leader and former Union minister Akhilesh Prasad Singh said that Shah held the rally with “politics in mind” at a time when people of the state are dying of the disease and hunger, NDTV reported. He also accused the BJP leader of being insensitive to the plight of migrant workers stranded across the country with little or no means of sustenance because of the lockdown.
“The BJP spent around Rs 100 crore on the virtual rally,” Singh said. “Around one lakh mobile phones were distributed among the people. [When] the central government does not have money to transport migrant workers back home or provide them with food, how did the BJP get the money to spend on political rallies?”
Singh called this an injustice and an insult to the people of Bihar. “The BJP is trying to do politics on the basis of their money power,” he added. “People are seeing their political design. The people of Bihar are watching the way they have been insulted. They will teach the BJP a lesson and throw this party out of power whenever elections are held.”
The Congress leader said the people of Bihar have not suffered during the British rule as much as they suffered in the last three months. He also accused Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of “doing nothing” to contain the virus in Bihar and called him the “most inefficient” chief minister in the country.
As the Bihar Assembly’s term ends on November 29, the elections are scheduled to be held later this year. The Bharatiya Janata Party, the Janata Dal United and the Lok Janshakti Party are part of the National Democratic Alliance in the state. The BJP will contest the elections under the leadership of Chief Minister Kumar. The party is likely to be challenged by the Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress combine, apart from other smaller parties.
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