Rahul Gandhi's speech in Bahrain irresponsible, says BJP

New Delhi, Jan 9: The BJP dubbed Rahul Gandhi's speech in Bahrain as "irresponsible", alleging that the Congress president was spreading "hatred" among Indians with his speeches abroad like he did in the country.

Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad attacked the Congress chief over his last night's address and contrasted it with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to 270 Indian origin (PIO) parliamentarians, focusing on boosting ties between India and other countries.

Addressing a press conference, Prasad questioned Gandhi's remarks in which he accused Modi government of pursuing a divisive agenda to hide its failures, and said they had expected that he would not harp on political differences and "spread hatred in a foreign country as he did in India". "The BJP strongly condemns Rahul Gandhi's irresponsible utterances.... He is spreading hatred among people," he said.

Hitting back at the Congress leader, the law minister wondered if the Congress' stand on the triple talaq bill worked to spread love or hate in the society. He accused the Congress of failing to take a stand on an issue of woman's respect and justice.

Gandhi's father and the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had committed a "sin" by passing a law under pressure from Muslim bodies to negate a Supreme Court order to provide alimony to Shah Bano after her husband divorced her, he said.

The same Muslim body is now opposing the triple talaq bill, Prasad said, claiming that the Congress' decision to stall it in Rajya Sabha was a case of double standards influenced by vote bank politics.

Citing Mudra loans given to tens of millions of people, rise in road construction works and opening of call centres in tier two cities, Prasad said this has led to creation of employment as he refuted Gandhi's charge that the government had not created enough jobs.

Gandhi had accused the government of dividing people on the basis of caste and religion, alleging it was converting the anger of jobless youth into hatred among communities.

PTI