BJP today termed as the "joke of the decade" Congress' decision to meet President Pranab Mukherjee to protest against "rising intolerance" and said the ongoing protests were politically motivated and aimed at maligning the Narendra Modi government.
Noting that the National Crime Records Bureau data showed a decline in communal incidents and atrocities on Dalits, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said Congress and intellectuals close to it had launched a "malicious campaign" "as for the first time since independence an alternative world view was being spread by BJP."
Asked about concerns expressed by a number of noted people seen sympathetic to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Naidu told a press conference that they were "misled" while some others were "misleading."
"If some people run a campaign, naturally others will be concerned," he added.
"Congress talking about intolerance is like the devil quoting the scriptures. Their plan to meet the President of India protesting against intolerance is the joke of the decade. Congress and its political friends are intolerant of people's mandate," he said.
He raked up the Emergency, 1984 anti-Sikh riots, mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits and well-publicised killings of individuals for ideological reasons in Kerala to wonder why many of these intellectuals were silent then.
"Reasons for the ongoing malicious campaign against BJP and the Prime Minister lie elsewhere. Since Independence, one particular line of thinking has been patronized and individuals and institutions were propped up in the name of one family.
"No other world view or perspective was allowed to be expressed or grow. These people who thrust one view on the country all these years are not ready to tolerate the other view, nationalist view, emerging now," he said.
He blamed writer Nayantara Sahgal and filmmaker Anand Patwardhan for leading these protests, resulting in a number of personalities returning their awards.
Naidu also made light of rating agency Moody's warning to Modi that India may lose credibility if such incidents continued and said "they have given caution. Naturally, caution has to be kept in mind. That's why I am cautioning these people who are trying to tar the image (of India). Moody has appreciated Modi."
He said recent incidents like Dadri lynching and M M Kalburgi's killing happened in states ruled by Congress or parties which were its allies, a reference to Smajwadi Party that rules Uttar Pradesh.
