The more Congress hates PM, the more people support Modi: JP Nadda

NEW DELHI: Hitting out at the Congress for its criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief JP Nadda on Monday said the more the opposition party and its leaders "lie" and "hate" Modi, the more people will support him.

In a series of tweets, Nadda lambasted both Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son and MP Rahul Gandhi for their reproval of the Prime Minister on a range of issues.

"Combination of despondency and shamelessness is dangerous. Congress possesses both. Empty rhetoric of decency and democracy by the Mother is 'complemented' by live demonstrations of politics of hate, anger, lies and aggression by the Son. Double standards galore," Nadda said.

The BJP president made these remarks in response to an article written by Sonia Gandhi in an English daily alleging that democracy is being hollowed out in the Modi dispensation.

"One dynasty's deep personal hatred against a person who was born in poverty and became PM is historic. Equally historic is the love people of India have showered upon PM. More Congress' lies and hate increases, the more people will support PM Modi," Nadda said.

Recalling the emergency the BJP chief said the Congress can never pontificate on the freedom of speech, claiming that they have had contempt for dissenting voices for decades.

"We saw glimpses of it during the Emergency. Later on, the Rajiv Gandhi government made a brazen attempt to weaken press freedom. A free press rattles Congress," he alleged.

Dubbing the Congress "blessed" Maharashtra government as a "laboratory of usage of brute state power", Nadda said troubling opponents and curbing freedom of speech in "trademark Congress style" are visible in the working of the state government.

He also hit back at Rahul Gandhi for his remarks on social media citing a media report claiming that farmers across Punjab burnt effigies of Prime Minister Modi.

Describing the torching of Modi's effigies as a "Rahul Gandhi-directed drama", Nadda said it was shameful but not unexpected.

"After all, the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty has never respected the office of the Prime Minister. This was seen in the institutional weakening of the Prime Minister's authority during the UPA years of 2004-2014," he said.

Alleging that atrocities against SC/ST communities are at an all-time high in Congress-ruled Rajasthan, and that women are unsafe in Rajasthan as well as Punjab, Nadda said, "Except governing, they are doing everything else".