GUWAHATI (Assam): Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress sparred on Sunday over a video of Rahul Gandhi, which showed the Wayanad MP apparently losing his temper in response to chants of “Jai Shri Ram” and slogans supporting Prime Minister Modi during the Assam leg of his ongoing Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.
Posting a video of the Congress MP, on social media platform, X, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that Rahul Gandhi shouldn’t lose his cool and be allergic to the chanting of Jai Shri Ram. In the purported video, the crowd could be seen holding BJP flags.
“On the eve of Shri Ram Lalla’s Pran Pratishtha, Ram Bhakts have every right to chant Jai Shri Ram. Rahul Gandhi shouldn’t lose his cool and be allergic to the chanting of Jai Shri Ram. He cannot instigate violence and threaten the public in this manner,” the Assam Chief Minister said.
The incident came when the ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra,’ was on its fourth day in the northeastern state.
Sharing the video, the head of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s IT cell, Amit Malviya said, “Rahul Gandhi lost his cool after Jai Shri Ram and Modi Modi slogans were raised in his presence.”
“If this is how rattled he is, how will he face the people of this country in days ahead, after the anti-Hindu Congress rejected the invite to be part of the Pran Pratistha in Ayodhya?” he wrote on X.
#WATCH | Assam: A large number of people carrying posters of 'Rahul Gandhi go back' and 'Anyaya Yatra' held a protest against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the Ambagan area of Nagaon this evening. pic.twitter.com/e4fFIwqFSa
— ANI (@ANI) January 21, 2024
In a reply to Malviya, Congress Social Media and Digital Platforms Chairperson Supriya Shrinate said that his party leader “didn’t lose his cool” but went to meet the people who were sloganeering.
“You dimwit. Rahul Gandhi didn’t lose his cool. But went to meet the people who were sloganeering — and the moment he went amidst them they ran away What he did takes courage. Something that you and your master won’t ever understand. Now shut up and sit down,” Shrinate said.
Hitting out at the BJP government in Assam, another Congress leader, Anand Sharma, said that the incident should be criticised and that Chief Minister Sarma should respect the law and the Constitution.
“No matter how much we condemn this, it is still less. In democracy, Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders have the right to take out a yatra and speak. Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma should respect law and constitution. Congress is not scared of such threats and it won’t have any effect on yatra. But, Congress won’t tolerate it, this is not acceptable in democracy,” the Congress leader said while speaking to ANI.
Earlier in the day, Congress alleged that its vehicles were attacked by BJP workers in parts of Assam during the Nyay Yatra.
While addressing the public in Nagaon district, Rahul said that his party is not scared of PM Modi and Assam CM.
“(Around) 20-25 BJP workers carrying sticks came in front of our bus, and when I came out of the bus, they ran away. They think that Congress is scared of the BJP and RSS. They are dreaming. They can tear as many posters and placards as they want. We don’t care. We are not scared of anyone. We are neither scared of PM Narendra Modi nor Assam CM,” Gandhi said.
The Yatra, flagged off from Manipur’s Imphal on January 14, will conclude in Mumbai on March 20. (ANI)