In an unsparing attack on Congress, which has seen several senior figures exit in recent years, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief JP Nadda on Friday mocked the party’s upcoming ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, telling it to first keep its flock together.
He also accused Congress of being a family-centric party during a rally in Haryana’s Kaithal.
“The Congress is now neither a party of ideology nor a national party, nor even a regional party. It has been reduced to a brother-sister party,” Nadda said, seemingly referring to former party chief Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi.
The BJP chief further referred to the resignation of senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, stating that the people who invested 50 years in the party are abandoning it.
“Did you ever think why are they leaving?,” asked Nadda, adding that senior leaders are exiting with a message that Congress needs to keep its flock together.
“Now, they are talking of ‘Bharat Jodo, Bharat Jodo’, arrey pehle party toh jod lo (first, they must unite the party),” he said further.
It may be noted that a similar suggestion to Congress’ interim chief Sonia Gandhi was made by Ghulam Nabi Azad in his resignation letter, saying the party should have conducted a ‘Congress jodo‘ exercise across the country before beginning the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’.
Congress will launch its ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ from Kanyakumari to Kashmir next week. Over the course of 150 days, the yatra will cover 3,750 km.
According to Nadda, the BJP and states led by it are striving to improve the lives of people, including weaker sections and women, by taking the country and states forward.
While referring to several parties, Nadda said that BJP faces family-centric outfits that care only about themselves and their families, while BJP and governments led by it care about the country and its people.
“Whose party has the Shiv Sena remained now, a family party. The real Shiv Sena has left them,” said the BJP chief.
He said that while Prime Minister Narendra Modi was working to change the lives of people, the family-centric parties were working to save themselves and their children.
“We are for the country, they are for themselves,” he said.
“And also understand another thing, those who are fighting against corruption, they themselves are on bail. What will they fight,” he added without mentioning any names.
As per Nadda, Congress and other parties tried to divide society in the past 70 years whenever they ruled, pitting one caste against another, and one region against another purely out of a desire for power. He added that people have benefited from the BJP’s rise to power.
“That is why, I always say if you have to enjoy the light, remember darkness. If you think of good days, then remember the days of the past, then you will know how difference is made when the right party and the right person occupy the seat of power,” he said.
In his view, the country is “progressing with leaps and bounds”. The BJP, he said, is the only party working to change the lives of people.
As a party, the BJP is dedicated to the welfare of the underprivileged, women, farmers, youth, and the poor, he added.
While Nadda mentioned several schemes initiated by the Narendra Modi government for women, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar spoke about the zero-tolerance policy adopted by his government against corruption and highlighted several initiatives for the benefit of the people.
