Congress slams Amit Shah for using 'abusive language' against opposition parties

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Friday slammed BJP president Amit Shah for using 'absuive language' while likening opposition parties trying to join hands against the BJP to 'snakes', 'mongoose', 'dogs' and 'cats'.


"There is a campaign that all Opposition should unite. Whenever there is a massive flood, all snakes, mongooses, cats, dogs and even cheetahs and lions climb up a huge tree as they fear rising water levels," said Shah on the occasion of the BJP's 38th Foundation Day rally in Mumbai.

Shah's jibe was seemingly aimed at the anti-BJP front, a coalition comprising parties like the TRS, the Trinamool Congress and the TDP that is taking shape to counter the Prime Minister Narendra Modi led saffron party in the Lok Sabha polls next year.

Congress communications in charge Randeep Surjewala slammed Shah for taking a cheap shot at the Opposition.

"In our culture, a man and his character are known by the phraseology he depicts and states, manner in which Amit Shah used abusive language, calling entire opposition animals and names, reflects that it is language of a leader who's lost the battle even before it started," Surjewala told ANI.


He later tweeted that like floods, the policies of the Modi government had adversely the country's farmers, youth, traders and businessmen. To turn around this "devastation", the Congress is building "'bandhs' (bridges) of friendship" with other political outfits, he said.

Shah, however, later clarified that his intention was not to equate opposition parties to animals.

"What I meant was that parties with different ideologies are coming together to contest elections out of fear of Modi," he said.

Congress leader Anand Sharma said, "The remarks made by Amit Shah are condemnable. It shows their mindset. They have repeatedly dragged the political discourse to a new low."

"It is shameful. What else do we expect from them. It is in their DNA," he told PTI.

Citing electoral gains in the northeast, the BJP supremo asserted that PM Modi's popularity has not diminished and that people have seen that the NDA government has done a lot for all sections of the society.

He said the BJP will seek to win the 2019 general elections on the basis of work done in the last four years rather than by making "hollow assurances".

"The people have full confidence in Modi ji's leadership and we will once again form the government with overwhelming majority in 2019," Shah declared.

In light of the Supreme Court's amendment of the

SC/ST Act

, Shah said the BJP "won't abolish reservations and won't allow anyone to do so" either.

"Rahul Gandhi and others are saying that we are demolishing reservation for SCs and STs. We are in no way demolishing the reservation (policy)," he said.

Shah also targeted the Opposition over the washout of the Budget session of Parliament due to continuous protest.

Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said those who opposed the saffron party's ideology -- mainly the Congress, the Left and "chronic socialists" -- have become almost obsolete in the last few years.

Terming BJP a big platform of "national unity", Prasad praised the role of BJP president Amit Shah in strengthening and expanding the party.

"His (Shah) leadership injected new energy into the party cadre and BJP today with more than 11 crore members is the world's largest political outfit," he said, while noting that the new initiatives taken by Shah led to the expansion of the party.

Today, the BJP is a platform for all Indians with one voice, one slogan and one commitment to make India a global power, he said.

(With PTI inputs)

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