Why did Congress malign India? Smriti Irani asks Rahul Gandhi

Smriti Irani

Union minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani on Friday hit out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his party's United Kingdom unit meeting Labour Party leaders there and discussing Jammu and Kashmir. The Union Minister for Women and Child Welfare taunted that Gandhi had become a "problem for his own party".

Irani, who had defeated Gandhi in Amethi in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, said he would be given a befitting reply by the people of Maharashtra in the October 21 Assembly polls. Addressing a press conference at the BJP office here, Irani termed Gandhi's loss from Amethi as the people's answer to his support for the "tukde tukde gang" (nation-breaking forces) of the JNU. "Now he will get an answer in Maharashtra too. If he is coming to the state to campaign for elections, he should answer why the Congress visited UK to discuss the Kashmir issue and malign the country," she said. The BJP has taken strong exception to a tweet by British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn that he met representatives of the Congress' UK unit and discussed the "human rights situation" in J-K.

Earlier in the day, BJP chief Amit Shah had also lashed out at Gandhi over the Labour Party meet. At a rally in Buldhana district, Shah said, "Rahul Gandhi must apologise for this as it is against India's stated stand that there will be no third party role in Kashmir and the state is India's internal matter. Rahul Gandhi should clarify his stand on the issue." The Indian Overseas Congress UK, meanwhile, in a tweet claimed the meeting with Corbyn was to condemn the Labour Party's resolution on Kashmir and to reiterate that J-K was an integral part of India.

Post the meeting, the Congress on Thursday disowned its overseas Congress unit in the UK, saying it is not authorised to talk on India's internal matters with outsiders. Queried on Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing rallies in the state on Sunday, Irani brushed aside the comparison claiming "the person you are comparing with the Prime Minister is a contrast from positive politics practised by Modi and (Maharashtra chief minister) Devendra Fadnavis". She described Fadnavis, who is seeking a second term, as a visionary leader. Irani also accused Gandhi of insulting Veer Savarkar.

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