‘Don’t teach us raj dharma’: Prasad hits out at Congress

THE BJP LEADER ALSO DISTANCED THE PARTY FROM COMMENTS MADE BY SEVERAL OF ITS LEADERS DURING THE DELHI ASSEMBLY POLLS

NEWDELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday lashed out at the Congress for trying to teach it “raj dharma” (duty), pointing out how the grand old party’s record on this is “full of twists and turns”.

A day after a Congress delegation led by chief Sonia Gandhi met President Ramnath Kovind to submit a memorandum demanding Union home minister Amit Shah’s resignation for “abdication of duty” during communal violence in northeast Delhi, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the party, instead of trying to remind others about raj dharma, should clarify its position changes on issues.

Gandhi had reminded the Centre of its “raj dharma” to protect people of all faith in the country.

“I ask Sonia Gandhi, your senior leaders had a view about those persecuted in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Indira Gandhi had given help to people who fled from Uganda, Rajiv Gandhi had helped Tamils from Sri

Lanka... Manmohan Singh had urged LK Advani that citizenship should be given, and Ashok Gehlot had written to the home ministers in both UPA and NDA for citizenship.. So has Tarun Gogoi .... So what is this raj dharma that makes your party do flip flops,” he said.

He went on to accuse Gandhi of making inflammatory comments at an anti-caa rally.

“The whole issue (CAA) was debated in Parliament, so why are you instigating people?” he asked, referring to a December rally when Gandhi allegedly made these comments.

Prasad said the Congress has opted for a policy of changing stance on policy issues. He said on March 15, 2010 the UPA issued a notification on NPR (National

Population Registry) and is now opposed to it. “...This was started by the Congress for the good of the country, but when they do it it’s allowed, when we say it, you instigate people,” he said.

“There is a lot that can be said about the record of the Congress party. The BJP condemns the Congress’s attempts at politicising the riots,” Prasad added.

The BJP leader also distanced the party from comments made by several of its leaders including Kapil Mishra and junior finance minister Anurag Thakur during the Delhi assembly polls that earned them the censure of the election commission.

“If senior leaders have publicly disapproved the comments , it means a lot. The party, within its internal system will respond to these situations,” he said.

On the transfer of Delhi High Court judge justice S Muralidhar, the minister said the transfer had nothing to do with any case, as a recommendation to this effect was already made by the Supreme Court collegium and the judge had also given his consent to his transfer.