The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday lashed out at the opposition parties for criticizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent remark on intolerance in UK, saying that they were insulting the nation by doing so.
"The Prime Minister has said it very clearly, both in India and in the UK, that there is no place for intolerance in India. We are committed to taking every one along. Some forces are trying to disrepute our government in the name of intolerance. These forces had earlier tried to PM Modi when he was CM of Gujarat," BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain told ANI.
"Now they are insulting the nation. They shouldn't stoop so low that they start insulting the nation while attempting to attack the PM," he added.
Hussain said that country is largely peaceful barring a couple of incidents of violence.
"World knows India because so many communities live here in peace. They need not insult the nation because of one or two isolated incidents," he said.
In a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his recent remark on 'intolerance' in UK, the Congress party had earlier said the statement showed his characteristic 'doublespeak and hypocrisy' and accused him of refusing to listen to voices of sanity.
Congress leader Anand Sharma had also said that Prime Minister Modi should make 'serious' amends to safeguard the pluralistic character of India instead of making wrong statements.
Addressing the issue of 'intolerance' in India in UK, Prime Minister Modi had earlier said that India was the land of Gandhi and Buddha, and intolerance would not be tolerated at any cost.
"Any event in any corner of India - it doesn't matter if there are even one or two incidents - we will not tolerate it and the law will deal with it strictly. It does not matter whether such an incident is significant for a country of 125 crore people. For us, every incident is serious. We will not accept anything that goes against our social values," Prime Minister Modi had said in his statement.
