The Congress on Wednesday questioned the government over its approach to fighting terrorism and corruption, and sought response to allegations that National Security Advisor Ajit Doval's son had a business partner based in Pakistan.
Reacting strongly to BJP President Amit Shah's charges that Manmohan Singh had quietly watched "monumental loot and plunder" when he was the Prime Minister during the UPA rule, the Congress said the ruling party was frustrated staring at an impending defeat in the Gujarat election.
"We had hopes that Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will answer Congress questions on development in Gujarat, throw some light on the business exploits of his son Jay Shah...," Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said in a statement.
"On one hand, Amit Shah claims that crackers will be burst in Pakistan (if the BJP loses) while on the other NSA Ajit Doval's son Shaurya Doval's business partner Syed Ali Abbas is a Pakistani. His another business partner is from Saudi Arabia. Amit Shah has no objections on that."
He said Modi and Shah need not to teach Manmohan Singh lessons on "language and decency" because the entire country was convinced of his "humility and politeness".
"Everybody knows the kind of humiliating language Modi and Shah used against Manmohan Singh during Gujarat election campaign," he said, adding people of Gujarat will reply to them on the election result day on December 18.
"Neither did Shah speak about the rise in the income of his businessman son Jay Shah neither did he answer about the Rafale deal... The BJP's past about fighting terrorism is so bleak that no one believes them now."
Surjewala posted 12 questions for the BJP to answer:
- How did international terrorist Dawood Ibrahim's wife travel to Mumbai from Pakistan in 2016 and no action was taken by the state or the central government to arrest her?
- Is it not true that Eknath Khadse had to resign as state BJP chief and minister because he was alleged to have spoken to Dawood Ibrahim?
- How did senior BJP leader and Minister Girish Mahajan and MLAs Devyani Farande, Balasaheb Sanap, Seema Heere and other BJP leaders attend the wedding of Dawood Ibrahim's niece on May 19 this year in Nasik?
- How did the government let officers of Pakistan's ISI "which is known to be sheltering terrorists" access to strategic Air Force base in Pathankot?
- Why did Modi travel to Pakistan as an "uninvited" guest at the wedding of then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's kin after the Pakistan-sponsored terrorist attacks in Udhampur and Gurdaspur?
- Isn't it true that 11 people who were caught spying for Pakistan's ISI were led by Dhruv Saxena who was also from the BJP's IT cell?
- Didn't the previous BJP government set free Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, Kashmiri terrorist Mushtaq Zargar and their accomplice Umar Syed Sheikh and took them in a flight to Kandhahar in Afghanistan.
- Didn't Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh say that Hizb militant Burhan Wani was killed in an "accidental encounter and security forces would have taken precaution had they known he was there"?
- Isn't it true that the PDP-BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir offered job and ex gratia to Wani's family?
- Isn't it true that Kashmiri woman separatist Asiya Andrabi had figured as a brand ambassador of a government scheme, featuring in a poster campaign?
- Isn't it true that a special NIA court in May this year convicted 15 people, including Niranjan Hojai, who happens to be a BJP leader and was a member of a hill council?
--IANS
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