Row erupts over PM’s claim of ‘no detention centres’

NEW DELHI: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress on Thursday traded barbs over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim in a speech that there were no detention camps in India.

It began with former Congress president Rahul Gandhi using the hashtag #JhootJhootJhoot along with the caption “The Prime Minister of the RSS lies to Mother India” in Hindi.

Within a couple of hours, BJP’s IT cell in-charge Amit Malviya tweeted a screenshot of the Press Information Bureau’s 2011 press release with the title ‘362 illegal migrants sent to detention camps in Assam’.

Malviya wrote: “Rahul Gandhi. Seen this press release from 2011 issued by the Congress govt claiming to have sent 362 illegal migrants to ‘detention camps’ in Assam. Just because India has rejected you repeatedly, are you hell bent on destroying it with your politics of hate and fear mongering?”

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra also hit out at Gandhi and said he was wrong in calling the Prime Minister a ‘liar’. “He (PM) said that no detention centre has been made to detain any Indian Muslims under NRC under the BJP government rule. What is the lie in it? Rahul Gandhi is spreading lies regarding detention centres. He and his Congress party have been spreading rumours that Muslims will be detained and deported. This is a pure lie,” he said.

At a rally in Delhi on Sunday, the PM had said there were no detention centres in India. “No Muslim is being sent to detention centres, nor are there any detention centres in India,” he said.

The opposition had taken strong exception to the Prime Minister’s remarks. “Does PM Modi believe Indians can’t do a simple Google search to factcheck his lies? Detention Centres are extremely real and will continue to grow as long as this government is in power,” the Congress said on Twitter.