Congress indulges in appeasement politics, seeks Pakistan's support to get votes: Anurag Thakur

Shimla: Congress leaders live in India but speak the language of Pakistan, Union Minister Anurag Thakur said on Friday and alleged that the grand old party seeks Pakistan's support to get votes.

"Leaders of opposition parties, especially the Congress, repeatedly make statements supporting Pakistan, crushing Sanatam Dharma and insulting the Hindu community, besides pleading for more resources for people with more wives and children," Thakur told reporters in Sujanpur.

The Congress indulges in politics of appeasement and seeks Pakistan's support to get votes, he alleged.

Sometimes, Congress leaders speak the language of China and vice-versa and it shows that the "hand of foreign powers" is with the Congress, Thakur claimed.

"These people want to weaken the Army and destroy nuclear weapons," he said.

Thakur questioned the Congress on "reducing" the quota for Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and "giving" it to Muslims and asked if it was a prelude to more such actions.

He also asked why the Congress talks about "destroying" India's nuclear weapons and why its language is in favour of Pakistan and vice-versa.

Without naming National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and Congress veteran Mani Shankar Aiyar for their comments on Pakistan "not wearing bangles" and having atom bombs, Thakur said, "I want to tell them that we are a nuclear power and our Army has the potential to conduct surgical strikes and kill enemies in their homes." "Our sisters who wear bangles and carry AK-47 rifles have the guts to kill infiltrators," he said.

Thakur was in Sujanpur to campaign for Rajinder Rana, the BJP candidate in the assembly bypoll.

Rana had defeated Thakur's father and former Himachal Pradesh chief minister PK Dhumal in the 2017 assembly elections from Sujanpur. He was among the six Congress MLAs who voted for the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections and later joined the saffron party.

Rana, who is contesting the assembly bypoll from Sujanpur on a BJP ticket, filed his nomination on Friday.

"I have appealed to the people to vote for the BJP and a make double-engine government," Thakur said.