By Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Lashing out at the BJP and the Modi government over the controversial remarks made by two of its leaders against Prophet Mohammed, the Congress on Monday said the party had isolated India globally and damaged the country’s image. In a scathing twitter attack, Rahul Gandhi said, “Divided internally, India becomes weak externally. BJP’s shameful bigotry has not only isolated us, but also damaged India’s standing.”
The party demanded the arrest of the duo after international outrage over their offensive comments against the Prophet. “Instead of doing a drama of action against anti-social elements in the party who have defamed India at the international level, it should immediately arrest them,” the Congress said.
The party also said the country will not apologise for the mistakes of the BJP, but the ruling party president should do so. “The BJP commits the mistake and the country has to face the repercussions. The prime minister is reminded by Qatar and Kuwait about his ‘Raj Dharma’. Nothing can be more shameful than this,” said Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera.
Senior party leader Jairam Ramesh said, “Our dapper External Affairs minister got his spokesman to dismiss a US government report on religious minorities in India as ‘vote-bank politics in international relations’. US allies in Gulf are giving a reply.”
Other opposition parties also joined in the condemnation and demanding the arrest of Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal. These are patrons of hate speech. Condemn Isolate Defeat them Save India,” said CPI-M in a tweet. party general secretary Sitaram Yechury questioned how BJP leaders speaking on behalf of the party could be called “fringe elements”.
Stepping up the heat
All opposition parties targeted the government and demanded that Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal be arrested for their damaging remarks
