The BJP is "insulting" 60 crore women in the country by comparing former prime minister Indira Gandhi to German dictator Adolf Hitler, senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot said today.
His remark came a day after Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley drew a parallel between Hitler and Gandhi, saying both turned democracy into dictatorship.
In the second of a three-part series of an article 'The Emergency Revisited', Jaitley said unlike Hitler, Gandhi went a step ahead by endeavouring to transform India into a "dynastic democracy".
The former Rajasthan chief minister alleged that people who were running the country, their government and party in a "dictatorial" manner were insulting Gandhi.
"By insulting former prime minister Indira Gandhi, the BJP is insulting the 60 crore women of the country and their courage," he said, adding that she was a symbol of women empowerment in the world.
The Modi government is working in a "dictatorial" manner and this is being stated by leaders of all hues, Gehlot alleged.
"This can be seen in the views expressed by BJP leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Arun Shourie, Yashwant Sinha, Shatrughan Sinha and Ghamshyam Tiwari.
"The BJP has developed the art of speaking a lie a 100 times to make it look like the truth and this is what they are doing by speaking against the Emergency, imposed 43 years ago," he said.
The Congress general secretary said Gandhi did not impose the Emergency to save her own chair, but to save the country.
"This is not told to the people of the country as to what state of affairs the country was brought into at that time," Gehlot said.
He said at that time, a leader threatened to damage railway tracks and another tried to instigate the military and the police to go against the state while touring another country.
"When such conditions are no longer there in the country, why is the government not allowing the legislature, the executive and the judiciary, and media to do their work," Gehlot asked.
The Congress leader also asked why people staging 'andolan' in Gujarat were being charged with sedition and farmers fired upon at different places.
"The truth is that these people are from a fascist organisation and mindset, in whose dreams democracy does not come," he said.
The BJP leaders are not telling the country that it was Gandhi's efforts that led to the creation of Bangladesh from Pakistan, and that former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had termed her as "Durga", Gehlot said.
"They also do not tell the country that she nationalised banks and launched a war against hoarders and black marketeers, and against the small kingdoms," he said.
She was the person who initiated schemes to eliminate poverty, Gehlot said in a statement.
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