Religion, caste matter little to me: Rahul Gandhi amid 'Congress is Muslim party' row
Rahul Gandhi
A group of Muslim intellectuals had recently met with Gandhi, after which an Urdu newspaper quoted Gandhi as having told them the 'Congress is a Muslim party'. The BJP was quick to latch on to the purported remark
"I stand with the last person in the line," Congress President Rahul Gandhi tweeted on Tuesday. "The exploited, marginalised and the persecuted. Their religion, caste or beliefs matter little to me."
He added, "I seek out those in pain and embrace them. I erase hatred and fear. I love all living beings. I am the Congress."
The comments are being seen as a riposted to the "Congress is a Muslim party" allegation against Gandhi.
A group of Muslim intellectuals had recently met with Gandhi, after which an Urdu newspaper — Inquilaab — quoted Gandhi as having told them the "Congress is a Muslim party".
The BJP was quick to pick on the report with Prime Minster Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launching attacks on Gandhi. "I read in the newspapers that naamdaar (entitled) said the Congress is a party of the Muslims. I am not surprised... When the previous prime minister was in charge, he said openly that the first use of natural resources should be with Muslims," Modi said in UP's Azamgarh.
"You can't be janeu-dhari (Hindu who wears the sacred thread) at one point... Muslim-dhari at another... This is playing with the people's trust," Sitharaman said at a press conference in Delhi.
Sitharaman added that Gandhi was dividing the country along religious lines, and that the Congress would be responsible for any communal disturbances that might break out in the run up to the 2019 elections.
Most of the Muslim intellectuals have since said Gandhi never made the "Congress is a Muslim party" comment.
The Inquilaab reporter however has stood by his report. News reports quoted him as saying what Gandhi had said had been nuanced.
And that Rahul had not said "Congress is a Muslim party" but that "Congress is a party of Muslims".