BJP Hurls Raj Dharma Jibe Back At Congress

New Delhi: Stung by Sonia Gandhi's appeal to President Ramnath Kovind to remind the Narendra Modi government of Raj Dharma, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad lashed out at the Congress for its hypocrisy and doublespeak. Addressing a media conference, he said that the party condemns the politics being played by the Congress party at a time when all parties should be talking of peace, harmony and coexistence.

The Union Law Minister accused the Congress party of provoking people in the name of Raj Dharma even as Delhi was returning to normalcy.

Addressing Sonia Gandhi, he asked whether persecuted religious minorities in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh should not be given Indian citizenship. "Is this Raj Dharma,"? he asked.

RS Prasad cited the example of Rajiv Gandhi taking up the cause of Hindus in Sri Lanka and also mentioned former prime minister, Dr Manmohan Singh's stand, as also that of the current Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot who wrote to former Home Ministers Shivraj Patil and LK Advani seeking citizenship rights to persecuted minorities from these countries. The Law Minister asked Sonia Gandhi—"What kind of Raj Dharma is this doublespeak?"

RS Prasad reminded media persons and the Congress that P Chidambaram was the Home Minister in 2010 when a notification on National Population Register (NPR) was issued and questioned the double standards of the Congress in the matter.

Vote bank politics is at the root of the Congress party's Raj Dharma, the Law Minister said. This explains the party's multiple U-turns on Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Population Register (NPR).