Letter vs letter: BJP chief writes to Congress chief, takes dig at Rahul Gandhi

Bharatiya Janata Party national president JP Nadda launched a scathing attack on his Congress counterpart Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday, two days after the latter wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expressing his “concern and disappointment” over remarks made against Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.
In a tit-for-tat letter, JP Nadda cited his party’s own litany of complaints against the LoP and other Congress members for their choice of words against the prime minister.
JP Nadda said Rahul Gandhi has a history of calling the entire Other Backward Classes, including the Narendra Modi, a “thief” and using extremely indecent words against the prime minister.
“Under what compulsion are you trying to justify Rahul Gandhi,” the BJP president asked his Congress counterpart in a three-page letter written in Hindi.
Nadda also claimed that Kharge’s letter was driven by his political compulsion to market a “failed product” repeatedly rejected by people.
“You have written a letter to PM Modi in an attempt to polish your failed product, which has been repeatedly rejected by the public, and bring it to the market due to political compulsion. After reading that letter, I felt that the things said by you are far from reality,” JP Nadda wrote in a counter letter to Mallikarjun Kharge.
“It seems that in the letter you have either forgotten the misdeeds of your leaders including Rahul Gandhi or have deliberately ignored them, so I felt that it is important to bring those things to your notice in detail. It is sad that the oldest political party of the country has now become a ‘copy & paste’ party under the pressure of its famous prince,” reads the letter.
In his letter to Modi, Mallikarjun Kharge said phrases such as “number one terrorist” used by Union minister Ravneet Bittu and a former BJP MLA’s death threat to Rahul Gandhi, were “deeply disturbing”.
These matters, Kharge said, needed to be discussed as they were of utmost importance to Indian democracy and the values of the Constitution.
“Did Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi martyr themselves only to see such vitriol being spread in Indian politics?” Kharge wrote.
The Congress leader claimed that such threats issued against Rahul Gandhi were the work of the BJP and its allies. Kharge said many such comments directed towards the Leader of Opposition came from sitting ministers in the central government.
“It is with great sadness that I must note that the violent language used by politicians in your alliance spells great danger for our future,” Kharge said.
In his appeal, Kharge asked the prime minister to guide his party and its allies, and take strict action against all such comments – “I hope that you will kindly inculcate discipline and boundaries within the politicians in your bloc.”
Union minister Ravneet Singh Bittu had hit out at Rahul Gandhi over his remarks made in the United States.
“The enemies of the country who try to blow up planes, trains, roads, they are in support of Rahul Gandhi…If there should be an award to catch the number one terrorist and the biggest enemy of the country, it should be on Rahul Gandhi,” Bittu had said.
Kharge’s letter comes in the aftermath of a recent comment by Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Gaikwad went viral, as he put up a reward of ₹11 lakh for whoever cut off Rahul Gandhi’s tongue.
The BJP distanced themselves from Gaikwad’s comments saying that they did not endorse them.