NEW DELHI, Sep 4: The BJP on Sunday mocked the Congress rally against price rise as “Rahul Gandhi relaunch 4.0” and took a dig at him over his slip of tongue saying he doesn’t even know whether flour is solid or liquid.
Speaking at the Congress’ ‘Mehangai Par Halla Bol’ rally at Ramlila Maidan here, Gandhi said flour which was earlier “Rs 22 per litre is now Rs 40 per litre”. He immediately corrected it to kilograms.
Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters here, party spokesperson Sambit Patra said Gandhi’s speech was “immature”.
He said Gandhi was “speaking on the topic of inflation and he converted flour into litres. He doesn’t know whether potatoes grow above the ground or under, he doesn’t know whether flour is solid or liquid but (he) speaks on every subject”.
Echoing similar sentiments, BJP’s IT cell head Amit Malviya asked in a tweet “whether Rahul Gandhi’s impending Presidency will be measured in kg or litre?”
Taking a swipe at the former Congress president, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla tweeted: “Taking Rahul Gandhi seriously on price rise is like taking Congress seriously on fighting corruption and taking Hitler seriously on human rights.”
Patra termed Gandhi’s remarks on judiciary and media at the rally “contempt of court” and “abysmally low”.
In his speech at the rally, Gandhi said there is pressure on all institutions including judiciary and media. The government is attacking them, while the media is controlled by a few corporates and not functioning independently, he alleged.
Patra said, “From this high table of the BJP, we would like to appeal to your Lordship this is contempt of court.”
Without the media, this democracy is incomplete, he said.
Patra dubbed the Congress rally ‘Parivaar Bachao Andolan’ and said it was organised to save the Gandhi family’s existence.
“He repeated his old script… Rahul and responsibility cannot move together… Rahul Gandhi, the Congress ‘shehzada’ (prince) today rolled out an immature speech,” the BJP spokesperson said.
Hitting back at Gandhi over his remarks that the BJP and the RSS are spreading hatred and anger in the country, Patra said, “Actually it was his speech which was full of hatred and anger.”
“In the National Herald case of Rs 5,000 crore, Rahul and Sonia are out on bail, investigation is going on. Those who are corrupt and who used to think that corruption is their birthright, today they are scared. Because of this fear, hatred and anger were reflected in his speech,” he added.
Earlier in the day, BJP spokesperson Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said at a press conference at the party headquarters that the real purpose of the Congress rally was to relaunch Gandhi.
“This rally is meant to save the family and not to protest against price rise, and to relaunch Rahul Gandhi, who has been launched several times in politics. This rally is ‘Rahul Gandhi relaunch 4.0′ as no one wants to lead the Congress,” Rathore said.
On August 28, the Congress announced that the long-awaited election for its president would be held on October 17. The party last saw a contest for the post in November 2000.
On the Congress’ electoral track record, Rathore said the opposition party “has lost 90 per cent of the elections since 2014”.
In the Uttar Pradesh elections, Congress candidates forfeited their deposits on more than 90 per cent of the seats, he said. (PTI)
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