New Delhi: In a sharp attack on the Congress party and its leader Rahul Gandhi Wednesday, Union minister for civil aviation Jyotiraditya M. Scindia accused the party of questioning and pressuring the judicial system in the matter of his disqualification from Parliament and alleged the party was doing everything to “stay politically relevant”.
Addressing media persons, the former Congress minister alleged that Rahul’s personal legal fight being presented as the fight for democracy is proof that the party is playing with democracy and stooping to a new low.
“Rahulji is being treated special. We have seen this in recent days that the whole Congress party, including the CMs and Parliamentary leaders, were accompanying him when he was going for bail. If this is not pressurising the judiciary, then what is? I want to ask Congress if this is the ideology of Gandhism, and why is it being done for one person?” said Scindia.
Calling Congress’s fight selfish and condemnable, the minister criticised the party for trying to do everything possible to stay politically relevant.
Scindia, who joined the BJP in 2020 after a long stint with the Congress, pointed out that disqualification of an MP is not new. “Then why is there so much noise this time and why is Parliament not being allowed to function?” he asked.
“The most shocking thing coming from Rahul Gandhi has been ‘I am Gandhi, and Gandhi doesn’t apologise’. This tells you everything and is utterly shameful,” Scindia added.
He also accused the Congress of hypocrisy and brought up the incident of Rahul Gandhi tearing up the 2013 ordinance.
Till 2013, in the People’s Representation Act, if a person was convicted in a defamation case, one would get three months to appeal. But after the Supreme Court verdict in the Lily Thomas vs Union of India case, that person was to be disqualified with immediate effect, Scindia said.
“But when Congress was in power, Rahul Gandhi had torn the ordinance. Then why this hypocrisy? Whereas party’s senior leaders say that for the Gandhi family there should be different rules, Scindia said.
He criticised the Congress party for its belief that it has “first-class citizens, and the rest are third-class”.
The minister also attacked the party for disrespecting the OBC community and demanded an apology.
“The Congress party has no ideology left and their only ideology is being anti-national. They asked for proof of our soldiers’ bravery, they claimed our soldiers were beaten up by China,” Scindia claimed, referring to his former colleague Digvijaya Singh’s statement where he asked for the proof of the surgical strike, and later maintained his stance even after the party distanced itself from his comments.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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