Nagpur, Nov 5 (PTI) Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said that Congress, which once imposed Emergency, was now trying to create anarchy in the country, but voters would never trust it.
Addressing the BJP’s ‘Save Democracy-Remove Anarchy’ march here, he also took exception to the language used by Congress leaders like Mallikarjun Kharge when talking about Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“I want to tell Rahul Gandhi, no matter how much power you use, how much you mislead people or lie, or how much you attack democratic institutions, the people of this country still won’t vote for you….whenever Congress wins, the people of this country eventually throw it out,” he said.
Recalling the Emergency, Gadkari said the Congress party “committed the sin of taking away people’s fundamental rights” during that period.
People were jailed under the National Security Act and restrictions were imposed on many democratic institutions, he further said.
“Now the same Congress party talks about protecting democracy. They are trying to create anarchy in the country. The kind of language Rahul Gandhi and Congress leaders are using does not suit them. Leaders like Kharge are talking about Prime Minister Modi’s father. They have become rattled because the public has repeatedly rejected Congress which has continued to lose elections,” he said.
Congress leaders were attacking democratic institutions out of frustration, Gadkari added.
The main opposition party was trying to tarnish the Election Commission’s reputation and preventing Parliament from functioning, he alleged.
Parliament is meant for debate and putting forward one’s views, but by repeatedly disrupting its proceedings, Congress had shown that it had no respect for it, the Union minister further said.
The “fake narrative” and efforts to create confusion by Rahul Gandhi and Congress were needed to be exposed, Gadkari said.
The BJP had made sacrifices to save the democracy in the country, he said.
“If there is a party that helped establish Janata Party through the merger of the Jana Sangh (after the 1977 elections), and made sacrifices to save the democracy under Jayaprakash Narayan’s leadership, it is the Bharatiya Janata Party,” the Union minister said.
Democracy was “murdered” in 1975, he said, adding that Parliament was used to undermine the Constitution and the prime minister was granted immunity from prosecution.
“The Janata Party later repealed these anti-democratic provisions and saved the democracy,” Gadkari said.
“We are all committed to protecting democracy from the anarchy being spread by those who, in the name of a Leftist ideology, have appeased minorities, encouraged Bangladeshi infiltrators to be added to voter lists, promoted Naxalism, and tried to divide the country,” he said.
Unity in diversity was the BJP’s defining feature and the saffron party was not against any sect, religion, community or caste, Gadkari said, adding that it regards freedom of speech and the fundamental rights essential features of Indian democracy. PTI
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)