AMN /
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi today chose to aggressively take on the the Prime Minister and BJP in the wake of accusation leveled against him, including his nationality.
Rahul said that he is all prepared to face any investigation at any point of time, even prepared to go to jail if any wrongdoing on his part is proved. Rahul Gandhi was addressing a function in New Delhi this evening . He also accused RSS of dividing the country on the basis of caste and religion.
BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had recently charged that Mr Gandhi had claimed himself to be a British national in documents before the company law authorities of UK.
Breaking his silence on Swamy’s allegations that he had claimed to be a British national in documents before company law authorities in the UK, Rahul said: “They are using their chamchas to throw dirt at me. I challenge the Prime Minister… show your 56-inch chest and use all the agencies available with the government to probe me for six months. And lock me up if I am found guilty.”
At a meeting organised by the Youth Congress on the 98th birth anniversary of Indira Gandhi, Rahul said: “Since childhood, I have been witnessing the RSS and their cronies attacking my grandmother, my parents, and now me. I am not scared of them.”
“There is not a shred of truth in all the dirt they are throwing at me. Mr Modi, you are not in the Opposition now, you are in the government. Why don’t you use your resources to investigate me,” he told the gathering while mother Sonia Gandhi and senior Congress leaders looked on.
He focused his speech on what he called the “communal agenda” of the government. “On the one hand, there is the RSS and on the other, radical forces like SIMI. The Congress has always been defending the country from these elements and we will continue to do that. A few fanatics like the RSS give the whole community a bad name,” he said.
“Look what happened in Bihar. They say we are only about 40 MPs in the Lok Sabha. I say, if we are such a small force, how did we stop the land bill which was anti-farmer and anti-poor. In Bihar the BJP was hoping for a sweep. A sweep did happen but of the other kind. Let me assure you, the same will happen in the coming elections in the states,” he said.
The hardening of stance by the Congress comes a week ahead of the winter session of Parliament. It is learnt that the Opposition parties may decide to participate in the special discussion on the Constitution planned for November 26 and 27 but are likely to corner the government thereafter.
Opposition parties, especially the Left, JD(U) and Congress, are in talks to place the government on the mat, particularly in Rajya Sabha where they have a numerical advantage, on the “rising acts of intolerance”. The issue is likely to figure in a big way in the discussion on the Constitution too with many MPs saying that incidents like Dadri and the language used by some ministers were in violation of Fundamental Rights laid down in the Constitution.