On Friday, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi questioned the silence of the Opposition bloc, I.N.D.I.A, over former DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin’s rant against Sanatan Dharma.
Addressing a seminar in Chennai earlier, the minister for Sports and Youth Affairs in the Tamil Nadu government, equated Sanatan Dharma with “mosquitoes, dengue, malaria, fever and corona” and called for it to be eradicated and not merely opposed.
Joshi questioned why people should vote for the ruling Congress in Rajasthan, saying, “The son (Priyank Kharge) of the Congress’s national president (Mallikarju Kharge) equated Sanatan Dharma with a disease. I want to ask the Congress and (Rajasthan Chief Minister) Ashok Gehlot as to what they have to say on this.”
He added that Congress was yet to outrightly condemn these statements. While Priyank Kharge is a sitting minister in the Karnataka government, Udhayanidhi’s party is a constituent of the INDIA bloc along with the Congress.
“Only a few people are calling it INDIA. It ought to be called the INDI alliance. Since the word alliance is repeated in the name, it is INDI alliance. It is actually a ghamandi (arrogant) alliance,” the BJP leader, who is the party’s poll in-charge in Rajasthan, said.
Invoking the G20 summit to take a swipe at the Opposition, Joshi said while the whole world was commending the country for its conduct of the global event, which was themed on ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ or ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’, the INDIA leaders were spreading “hate” through such statements.
“Neither (Congress MP) Rahul Gandhi nor Ashok Gehlot has condemned the statements by Udhayanidhi Stalin and Priyank Kharge. The Opposition has made it a habit to abuse Sanatan Dharma and the idea behind ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’,” Joshi added.
Claiming that the Congress indulged in corruption in Rajasthan and failed to prevent rising atrocities on women, as well as members of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes across the state, the Union minister called on the people to decide if it should vote it back.
“Should people vote for a party that perpetrated the killings of seers and monks? Should they vote for Congress after all the gangrapes and corruption that have taken place in the state on their watch? A member of Rajasthan’s Lok Seva Aayog was arrested in the question paper leak case. Should they vote them back for more paper leaks and corruption? Should they return to power after all the riots that happened on their watch and the appeasement politics? Should a party, that has cheated farmers and is responsible for illegal mining, be voted back?” Joshi questioned.
He claimed that the Congress-ruled Rajasthan currently tops the country in crimes against women.
“The whole world was keenly following the G20 summit in India. The summit was a reflection of the change in the world order and how India is leading from the front in more ways than one. For Rajasthan to account for 16 per cent of crimes against women at a time when the country is making forward strides sends the wrong message to the world. It is unfortunate that a sitting minister said Rajasthan is for men and, hence, gangrapes take place. Even if one accepts this bizarre argument that the state belongs to men, does that give them the licence to ill-treat women? This party is rudder-less,” Joshi added.
Claiming that anti-nationals and fundamentalists were flourishing under the Congress rule, the Union minister said, “People who came to power promising to provide electricity free of cost to the people have freed them of electricity altogether.” His reference was to frequent power cuts in Rajasthan.
