BJP stages protest on Rahul's remark on Chhattisgarh

Raipur, May 18 (UNI) Registering strong protest on Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi's remark on Chhattisgarh, Bharatiya Janata Party state President Vishnudev Sai said it was an 'insult' to the state.

In a statement released here today, Mr Sai said the BJP would never tolerate state's insult and either Mr Gandhi take back his 'objectional statement' and asks for an apology from the 2.10 crore state's population or the party would stage a protest against him.

''Mr Gandhi tried to tarnish the image of state at national and international level,'' he said, adding that several newspapers quoted Mr Gandhi as saying that there was no political understanding in the people of Chhattisgarh and casteism and discrimination had been prevailing there intensively.

He alleged that the Gandhi family had developed the attitude of insulting hosts and if the state was backward then it was not due to its lack of political understanding but due to indifference of Congress, which ruled the country for a long time.

Mr Sai alleged that earlier the Congress understood the state as a grassland and kept on exploiting its natural resources and now when the state is poised to be self-independent, the Congress has started affronting it.

''The state's spirit of brotherhood is rarely seen in any other state of the country,'' he said.

Mr Gandhi had said yesterday at the 'Rashtriya Ekta Shivir' at Nehru Yuwa Kendra in Amethi that the people of Orissa and Chhattisgarh did not have more political awareness and hence they were lagging in development due to their less participation in political process.

''I recently visited these states and found that casteism and discrimination had been prevailing there,'' Mr Gandhi had said.

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