published by, Kavya Mishra
Last Update: June 02, 2023, 3:09 pm IST
Rahul Gandhi was in the US on a three-city tour. (Image: PTI/File)
BJP national spokesperson and MP Sudhanshu Trivedi claimed that there is a link between the regional party and Jinnah’s organisation, which triggered the partition movement among Muslims. He noted that Jinnah’s party had won the pre-independence provincial elections in the Madras Presidency, of which present-day Kerala was a part.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s claim that the Indian Union Muslim League is a completely secular party drew a sharp reaction from the BJP on Friday, as its leaders alleged that the Kerala party is guided by the same mindset as Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s All India Congress. Indian Muslim League was behind.
“These are the same people who came back after Partition. After partition, he formed the Muslim League here and became a Member of Parliament. He advocated Sharia law and wanted to reserve separate seats for Muslims. These are the same people who are part of the same Muslim League. It is Rahul Gandhi and the Congress who see Hindu terrorism but feel that the Muslim League is secular,” Union Minister Anurag Thakur said.
Thakur said it was necessary that the former Congress president speak in favor of outfits like the Muslim Brotherhood, an extremist organization banned in several countries, and the Muslim League as he has to contest against the Muslim-majority Wayanad seat after losing Amethi.
On a visit to the US, Gandhi told reporters in Washington that the Muslim League was a completely secular party and there was nothing non-secular in it. He was replying to a question about his party’s alliance with the regional party.
BJP national spokesperson and MP Sudhanshu Trivedi claimed that there is a link between the regional party and Jinnah’s organisation, which triggered the partition movement among Muslims. He noted that Jinnah’s party had won the pre-independence provincial elections in the Madras Presidency, of which present-day Kerala was a part.
He told reporters that the Malappuram district body had in 2013 passed a resolution to reduce the age of marriage for girls from 18 to 16 years, as Muslims were in majority in the area. The then Congress government in the state, which included the Muslim League, backed down only after fierce opposition from the opposition. He said parties like the AIMIM, the Muslim League and the Indian Secular Front, a West Bengal party formed by a Muslim cleric, are secular for the Congress and the banned radical Islamic outfit PFI is a “cultural” body.
Mocking Gandhi, the BJP leader said his claim puts a question mark on his intelligence.
Kerala BJP leader KJ Alphons took a dig at Gandhi, saying he should be forgiven for making such comments as he has “limited intellectual capacity”.
BJP’s IT department head Amit Malviya said, “According to Rahul Gandhi, Jinnah’s Muslim League, the party responsible for the partition of India, is a ‘secular’ party on religious lines. Rahul Gandhi may be less educated, but he is insidious and devious here. It is also their compulsion to be acceptable in Wayanad.”
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI,