Congress says BJP doing 'damage control' amid international criticism over Prophet Mohammed row

Opposition on Sunday found no merit in BJP's assertion that it respects all religions and denounces insult to any religious personality, describing it as "blatantly counterfeit pretence" aimed at "damage control" following international criticism.

The reactions came as the BJP issued a statement that it "respects all religions" and "strongly denounces insults of any religious personalities". While the statement did not refer to the controversial remarks by its spokesperson Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal against Prophet Mohammed, the party suspended Nupur and expelled Jindal.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the BJP statement was "nothing but a blatantly counterfeit pretence, which is evidently farce and another sham attempt at damage control."

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and top National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said the BJP "suddenly waking up" to denounce the insult of any religious personality has nothing to do with having "offended" the sentiments of Muslims in the country but is aimed at an international audience. Qatar had summoned the Indian envoy on the issue while there were boycott of Indian products in some Gulf countries.

Read | Qatar summons Indian envoy, slams 'anti-Islam' remarks by BJP official

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said, "when leaders of the Sangh Parivar defame other faiths on prime time debates, the BJP and PM Modi remain mute spectators. They wake up only when the voices of dissent are raised by foreign nations. Clearly, GoI has scant respect and are intolerant towards the minorities of India."

Congress Rajya Sabha Chief Whip Jairam Ramesh tweeted that the BJP suspended the two spokespersons after protests by the Qatar government. "This is what Americans call a good cop-bad cop routine. First, get your people to be obnoxious. Then act against them under pressure, to appear moderate. MEA calling BJP spokespersons 'fringe elements' is a joke!" he said.

In his statement, Surjewala alleged that the BJP and its shenanigans have "repeatedly and by design insulted" India’s centuries old civilisational ethos of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ by "constantly pitting one community and religion against another to polarise, to divide and to spread hatred".

"The intrinsic character of the BJP and the Modi Government is now founded upon religious violence, divisive conservatism and nurturing hatred to secure vote-bank politics. None less than the Prime Minister and the BJP Chief Ministers, of the ilk of Adityanath, have introduced a new political vocabulary of state-sponsored division of society, i.e. 'Shamshan-Kabristan', 80 vs 20, 'bulldozer'," he said.

He alleged that the BJP has pushed India into a dark age of religious polarisation to subserve its parochial political agenda in the short term.

Referring to the action taken by the BJP against the two leaders, he said it was "done obviously under duress of threats from external powers, exposes the much touted ‘muscular posturing’ and positioning" of the BJP and the Modi Government.

"Is the BJP sincere in course correcting? Is the BJP trying to atone for its immeasurable sins or is it more chameleon like posturing? Will the bulldozing of India’s soul, its ethos and its all-encompassing humanity by the bulldozer of hatred finally stop? Will the mob-lynching of our Constitutional ethos cease? Is repentance by the BJP and its leadership possible? A short statement by the BJP is unlikely to heal the millions of wounds inflicted on the ethos of Indianness," he said.

"One thing is clear, it is a lesson to the virulent members of the BJP that they are nothing but fodders in this game of political grandstanding and that they can be used, thrown and discarded at the drop of a hat," he added.