Congress used Muslims like 'chewing gum': Mukhtar Naqvi hits back at Rahul Gandhi

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Wednesday slammed former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi for saying Muslims are being attacked in India. Gandhi, who is on a 10-day visit to the US, on Tuesday said that "the condition of Muslims in India is the same as that of Dalits in the 1980s".

"The way you (Muslims) are feeling attacked, I can guarantee Sikhs, Christians, Dalits, tribals are feeling the same. What is happening to Muslims in India today, happened to Dalits in the 1980s," Gandhi said while answering a question by a member of the Bay Area Muslim community, Mohammad Khan.

Reacting to this, BJP leader Naqvi said that the Congress had "used Muslims like chewing gum". He said Rahul Gandhi's problem was that even today he was not able to accept how PM Narendra Modi had destroyed his feudal fiefdom through inclusive development. "Rahul Gandhi equates democracy with dynasty,” Naqvi said.

Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday arrived in San Francisco for a three-city US tour. He interacted with activists, academics, and civil society at the University of California. During his address there, Gandhi said the poor and people from minority communities feel helpless today in India. "Indians do not believe in hating each other. A small group of people who control the system and the media are stoking the flames of hatred," he said.

The former Congress chief took a swipe at the central government and said it was "threatening" the people and "misusing" the country's agencies. Speaking at an event in Santa Clara, California, Gandhi said the BJP and the RSS were controlling all the instruments of politics in India. He said before starting his 'Bharat Jodo Yatra', he realised that the normal tools that had historically been used in politics were not working anymore.

Responding to these remarks, Naqvi launched a scathing attack on the Congress leader and said "Jinnah's spirit enters Rahul Gandhi when he is abroad". "When Rahul Gandhi goes abroad, the spirit of Jinnah or the thinking of people like al-Qaida enters his body. I would suggest him to come to India and get exorcism done from a good exorcist," he said.

During the event, Gandhi also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Congress leader said that there are people in India who think they know more than God and PM Modi is "one such specimen". Today, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi hit back at the former Congress president and described him as a "fake Gandhi" and as a person "who knows nothing" but has become an expert on everything.

Joshi said it was funny how someone who knew nothing was suddenly an expert on everything. "A man whose history knowledge does not go beyond his family is talking about history," the minister said. 

"A man who claimed to produce gold out of potatoes is giving lectures about science and a man who never ventured beyond family affairs now wants to lead India's warfare," Joshi said. "No Mr. Fake Gandhi! The core of India is its culture. Unlike you, who use foreign soil to tarnish the country, Indians are very proud of their history and can very well defend their geography." 

(With inputs from PTI)