BJP questions Gandhi family’s silence over Capt Machchhar, accuses them of ‘mutely supporting terror’
New Delhi, Oct 4 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the Gandhi family for remaining ‘silent’ on Captain Smit Machchhar’s courageous act, and alleged that one ideology ‘silently supports terror’.
This comes days after the Indian pilot saved over 170 lives on board flydubai flight FZ1073, despite being attacked by his co-pilot, which led to the aircraft being diverted to Tabuk in Saudi Arabia. He was grievously injured after helping avert a major in-flight crisis.
Addressing a press conference, BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi said, “On such a proud occasion for India, there are also some embarrassing moments. Not a single word, social media post or press statement has come from the first family of Congress for Captain Smit. This raises a question — the ‘Queen Mother’ of the first family, Sonia Ji, who had tears in her eyes for the accused in the Batla House encounter, does not have any tone of compassion for Captain Smit.”
Taking a jibe at Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, he said: “The princess who used to carry a bag depicting ‘support to Palestine’, has not displayed any sympathy now (for the Indian pilot).”
Referring to Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi’s social media posts on Gaza, the BJP leader said: “It seems that the prince who was so affected by the happenings in Gaza has today become so scared for his vote bank that he has not uttered a word over the incident.”
Trivedi called it a conflict between two ideologies.
“One ideology, while silently supporting terror, strikes like an axe…tearing apart India’s constitutional institutions and social fabric, and effectively steering the nation’s ship towards a crash. Then there is the other perspective, the one we represent, which is willing to endure blows and risk lives to save the ship,” he remarked.
“Today, we want to directly ask the Congress party: why is it that those who called Zakir Naik a ‘messiah’ of peace, who called Afzal Guru a victim of circumstances, who called Burhan Wani a misguided youth, who called Yakub Memon’s hanging a judicial killing, and who shed tears over the Batla House encounter — why are they not uttering a single word for Captain Smit Machchhar who displayed such valour and risked his own life to save so many people? We demand a direct answer on this from the top leadership of Congress.”
The BJP leader also lashed out at the Congress over appointing MP Imran Masood as the party’s Working President in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.
“On the auspicious occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, they appointed Imran Masood, who became infamous for his objectionable remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as the working president in Uttar Pradesh. You can imagine what his conduct and record must have been,” the BJP MP said.
He added, “When Masood made that shameful statement during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections about cutting Modi ji into pieces, he was a member of the Samajwadi Party, not the Congress. Despite this, Rahul Gandhi attended Masood’s election rally, respectfully brought him into the Congress, even made him contest the Lok Sabha polls, and today made him the Working President…this shows the broad differences between Mahatma Gandhi and ‘today’s Gandhis’.”
Trivedi also raised objections with the appointment of Aradhana Misra as the new UP Congress chief, saying: “A video had surfaced where she was stopping workers of her own party from raising slogans of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’.”
“Rahul Gandhi should answer why such people were appointed as office-bearers,” he asserted.
Citing remarks from Samajwadi Party and Congress leaders ahead of the Assembly polls in UP, the BJP leader said: “They are infighting within their alliance itself.”
–IANS
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