A day after Rahul Gandhi said he stood by his remarks on RSS over Mahatma Gandhi's killing, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today accused the Congress of raking up needless controversies for reaping political gains and being "soft" on terrorists and hard on nationalists.
He said the BJP will keep fighting Congress' "hateful agenda" and said the opposition party has no moral right to point an accusing finger at the BJP or RSS after having practised "divisive and vote-bank" politics all these years.
"The recent remarks of Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi attacking the RSS clearly shows that the party is obsessed with raking up needless controversies with the intention of reaping political dividends. The Congress always remained soft on terrorists and hard on nationalists," he said.
"With the kind divisive and vote-bank politics it has pursued the Congress has no right to criticize the BJP. Let me make it clear, the BJP will never stop fighting the hateful and divisive agenda of the Congress," Naidu added.
The Minister said the Congress party never sincerely tried to promote social and communal harmony in the country and only practiced its trademark politics of "divisiveness and appeasement."
"It is unfortunate that such politics of appeasement only resulted in widening the divide between minorities and the majority rather than bringing cohesiveness in the society," he said.
Naidu also criticised the Congress for supporting Maoists, fundamentalists and communal forces and said it "is known for practising politics of opportunism right from the beginning".
Substantiating his charges, he said Congress supported those criticising the hanging of Yakub Memon, Maqbool Bhatt and Afzal Guru as well as to 'anti-national activities' in JNU, besides also symapthising with Amnesty International after its platform was used for raising anti-India slogans.
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Attacking the Congress, Naidu said, "its politics of opportunism and double standards was again on display recently when it sympathized with Amnesty International after the latter's platform was used to raise anti-India slogans."
"Congress leaders also extended support to similar activities in Hyderabad and expressed solidarity with Maoists, fundamentalists and communalists who criticized the hanging of Yakub Memon, Maqbool Bhatt and Afzal Guru. Similar support was extended to anti-national activities in JNU," he said.
The Union Minister said Congress "is known for practising politics of opportunism right from the beginning".
"It is the Congress, which promoted and aligned with the Muslim League, which was responsible for the division of the country," he said.
Naidu said the Congress also helped Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) to capture the mayor's post in Hyderabad and had an "unwritten pact" with it for many years and never hesitated to join hands with communal forces in different parts of the country for temporary political gains.
"Was it not the Congress party, which promoted Bhindranwale and even described him as Sant ? It was the Congress regime that supported LTTE with arms and ammunition and later sent peace-keeping forces to Sri Lanka resulting in the death of about 1,000 Indian soldiers.
"The Congress is silent on SIMI, ISIS and violent on patriotic organizations like the RSS," he said, adding that this is the reason why Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah wanted a "Congress-shasan mukt Bharat".
