Don’t Need BJP Certificate On Sanatan Dharma, Nationalism: Congress

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate claimed the 2024 polls will be a repeat of 2004 when BJP's 'India Shining' campaign failed and the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government was voted out of power

On Tuesday, the Congress said that it does not need to get a certificate from the BJP on Sanatan Dharma, nationalism or the contribution to the freedom struggle, while alleging that the score of the ruling party on these yardsticks is zero.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate, while responding to the BJP’s attack on the Congress and the INDIA bloc over the row following DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin’s remarks on Sanatan Dharma, said her party believes in ‘Sarva Dharma Sambhava’ (equal respect for all religions).

Shrinate said, “We do not want certificates from the BJP on nationalism, on Sanatan Dharma and on the contribution to our freedom movement. Because, on all these, their score is zero.”

When it was pointed out that BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad had alleged that the country’s heritage and culture are being insulted daily but the senior Congress leadership, including leaders like Sonia Gandhi are silent, Shrinate said, “We do not need any certificate from anyone and especially from hypocrites who talk like this. We believe in equality of all religions. I will not say anything more than this.”

Shrinate also refused to react to Union Minister and BJP leader Gajendra Shekhawat’s remarks in a video circulating on social media that anyone who speaks against Sanatan Dharma would have his tongue pulled out and his eyes gouged out.

She demanded that the BJP government answer questions about unemployment and deaths, which happened allegedly due to hunger, and said that the government had to build walls and put up large curtains so that the country’s poor were not seen during the G-20 Summit.

She also claimed that four people were killed and women were paraded naked in Manipur just two days ago. News is coming in that there was a clash between some policemen and the army and that curfew has been imposed at six places in the Valley region of the state, she said. “Which woman do you respect? Equality of all religions is the foundation of our country and we are people who believe in it,” she said.

DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin had, a few days ago, blamed the Sanatan Dharma for promoting discrimination and division among people and called for its eradication.

The ruling party also accused the INDIA bloc of having a hidden agenda to target the Sanatan Dharma for vote bank politics, even as party president J.P. Nadda led a fresh charge and claimed that attacking the ancient faith is part of a well though-out strategy of the Congress party and its leaders.

Nadda said in a post on X, “The Congress and the INDI Alliance should make their view clear and tell if the Constitution gives the right to make objectionable comments against any religion? Do INDI Alliance members not know the constitutional provisions?”

Meanwhile, as the two main political parties of India continue to engage in endless accusations and counter-accusations, the common Indian continues to suffer. Issues like inflation, unemployment, women’s safety and high cost of living are being swept under the political carpet and the bogeyman of antagonistic neighbours and minorities with an agenda keeps getting importance.

Successive governments have failed to ameliorate the condition of the common people and keep serving their own myopic self-interests.