New Delhi: The BJP on Friday accused the Congress of being an apologist for Pakistan and the terrorism emanating from its soil, as the ruling party cited comments of Mani Shankar Aiyar to slam it.
In comments which have gone viral on social media, Aiyar is heard saying that India should accord due respect to Pakistan and hold talks with it. If India spurns the neighbouring country, some madman there can use nuclear bomb, the former Union minister suggested.
Reacting to the row, Aiyar noted in a statement that it is obvious from the sweater he is wearing is the video that he made the comments to Chill Pill in the winter several months ago.
"They have been dredged up now as the BJP's election campaign falters. I refuse to play their game. Interested persons may please read the relevant passages in my two books released by Juggernaut last year, 'Memoirs of a Maverick' and 'The Rajiv I Knew'," the Congress leader said.
Seeking to corner the opposition party in the middle of the high-stakes general elections, BJP fielded Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar to attack the Congress.
He said Aiyar wants India to fear Pakistan and give it respect. The "new India" does not fear anyone, he said, claiming that his comments have highlighted the intentions, policies and ideology of the Congress.
"The Congress under Rahul Gandhi has become an apologist and defender of Pakistan and its terrorism," he told reporters.
The BJP leader cited recent comments of more Congress leaders to make his point.
The leader of opposition in Maharashtra, Vijay Wadettiwar had said that IPS officer Hemant Karkare was killed by a cop affiliated to the RSS and not Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab and former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi had dismissed a recent terror incident in Poonch in which an Air Force official died as a poll stunt, he noted.
Congress leader Digvijay Singh had suggested that the Mumbai terror attack was a RSS conspiracy, he alleged.
The Congress acts, talks and behaves like an apologist for Pakistan's terrorism, Chandrasekhar said.
As the Congress did recently with Sam Pitroda, who was accused of making racist comments, it will distance itself from Aiyar but it is clear that there is a pattern to the remarks made by its leaders, he said.
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