Nadda responds to Kharge's letter, lists abuses hurled at PM; Cong calls it intemperate, senseless

BJP president J P Nadda on Thursday accused Rahul Gandhi of having a history of abusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and OBCs, and of siding with anti-India forces, days after the opposition party charged ruling alliance members with using violent language against the Leader of Opposition.

In a tit for tat response after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to Modi over some members of the BJP-led NDA using "extremely objectionable" statements against Gandhi, Nadda cited his party's own litany of complaints against the LoP and other Congress members for their choice of words against the prime minister.

Nadda said Gandhi has a history of calling the entire Other Backward Classes, including the PM, a "thief" and using extremely indecent words against Modi.

"Under what compulsion are you trying to justify Rahul Gandhi," the BJP president asked his Congress counterpart in a three-page letter written in Hindi.

He claimed that Kharge's letter was driven by his political compulsion to market a "failed product" repeatedly rejected by people.

He told the Congress president, "Your comments are far from truth. It appears from your letter that you have either forgotten the misdeeds of Gandhi and other leaders or have deliberately ignored them."

Kharge had on Tuesday raised with Modi the issue of "extremely objectionable" and violent statements by ruling alliance members targeting Gandhi and urged him to discipline his leaders.

In his letter, the Congress leader demanded that strict legal action should be taken against those giving such statements so that Indian politics can be prevented from degenerating and nothing untoward happens.

The world is shocked that a Union minister and a minister from Uttar Pradesh are calling Gandhi "number one terrorist", while a Shiv Sena MLA announced a reward of Rs 11 lakh to the person who "cuts off the tongue of the Leader of the Opposition and brings it to him", he had said.

Hitting back, Nadda said Gandhi had once spoken of people "beating up" Modi with baton, betraying his "disrespectful" mindset.

His mother Sonia Gandhi, he added, had once called Modi, then Gujarat chief minister, "maut ka saudagar", he added.

He told Kharge in his letter, "You and your party leaders kept glorifying such unfortunate and shameful comments. Why had the Congress then forgotten about political probity?"

In a swipe, Nadda said it might be Kharge's compulsion to defend a failed product and even glorify it, but as the Congress president he should have introspected as well.

He claimed that Congress leaders in the last 10 years have abused Modi 110 times, accusing the opposition party of double standards.

Nadda alleged no leader in the history of independent India was "insulted" as much as Modi was by Congress leaders, citing several objectionable remarks used for the prime minister over the years.

The BJP president asked if the Congress feels proud of Gandhi because he pallies with anti-India and pro-Pakistan forces, and seeks foreign intervention in Indian democracy.

He alleged that Gandhi has repeatedly insulted the Hindu sanatan culture, sought evidence of armed forces' bravery and used controversial remarks for Sikhs.

Naming Congress leaders like Sam Pitroda, Shashi Tharoor, Digvijay Singh, P Chidambaram, K Suresh and Imran Masood, Nadda claimed that Congress leaders did everything to defame the country.

Congress leaders instigated people and regions against each other and pro-Pakistan slogans were raised in their programmes, he alleged.

He said, "If anyone has defamed and insulted the Indian democracy the most, it is the Congress party."

Nadda cited the imposition of Emergency, the Congress' alleged support to triple talaq, and claimed that the Congress is selling the poison of casteism and anti-national content from its so called "mohabbat ki dukan".

The Congress slammed as "intemperate" and "senseless" BJP president JP Nadda's reply to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagging "threats" aimed at Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at Prime Minister Modi, saying there was once a PM who, for 17 years, replied to each and every official and personal letter sent to him.

"Former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh writes to the non-biological PM on COVID-19.The Health Minister is given an abusive reply to send in his name.

"Congress President and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge ji writes to non-biological PM on the grave threats being hurled at the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi by Mr. Modi's colleagues. The BJP President is given the task of sending an intemperate and senseless reply," Ramesh said in a post on X.

"There was once a PM who, for seventeen years, replied to each and every official and personal letter sent to him - as over a 100 volumes of his Selected Works will testify," Ramesh said in an obvious reference to India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

"But self-proclaimed divinities are different I suppose," the Congress leader added.

His remarks came after BJP president Nadda accused Gandhi of having a history of abusing Prime Minister Modi and OBCs, and of siding with anti-India forces.

In his letter to Kharge, Nadda cited his party's own litany of complaints against the LoP and other Congress members for their choice of words against the prime minister.

"Under what compulsion are you trying to justify Rahul Gandhi," the BJP president asked his Congress counterpart in a three-page letter written in Hindi.

He claimed that Kharge's letter was driven by his political compulsion to market a "failed product" repeatedly rejected by people.

On Tuesday, Kharge had raised with PM Modi the issue of "extremely objectionable" and violent statements by ruling alliance members targeting Rahul Gandhi and urged him to discipline his leaders.

In his letter to Modi, Kharge had asserted that strict legal action should be taken against those giving such statements so that Indian politics can be prevented from degenerating and nothing untoward happens.

"I want to draw your attention to an issue which is directly related to democracy and the Constitution. You must be aware that a series of extremely objectionable, violent and rude statements are being made against the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi," the Congress chief said.

"I have to say with sadness that the violent language used by the leaders of the BJP and your allies is harmful for the future.The world is shocked that the Minister of State for Railways in the central government, a minister from BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, is calling the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha 'number one terrorist'," Kharge had said in an apparent reference to the remarks by MoS Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu and UP minister Raghuraj Singh.

"An MLA from a party that has ties with your government in Maharashtra is announcing a reward of Rs 11 lakh to the person who 'cuts off the tongue of the Leader of the Opposition and brings it to him'. A BJP leader and former MLA in Delhi is threatening to make him 'fate like his grandmother'," Kharge had said.

Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad announced that he will give Rs 11 lakh to anyone chopping off Gandhi's tongue for his remarks on scrapping the reservation system.

Union minister Bittu on Sunday said if those "manufacturing bombs" were supporting Gandhi, he is the "number one terrorist". Minister in the BJP's UP government Raghuraj Singh reportedly made similar remarks as that of Bittu.

Earlier, BJP leader Tarvinder Singh Marvah had purportedly made "threatening" remarks against Gandhi.