Mumbai, April 01: BJP chief Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday lashed out at the Congress for allegedly making a villain out of actor Amitabh Bachchan and accused the party of appeasing terrorists in the name of secularism.
The BJP president was speaking at a citizens’ convention organised by the party at Netaji Indoor Stadium to protest against spiralling price hike and the proposed 10 per cent resevation for Muslims by the Left Front Government.
Addressing his first rally in West Bengal since taking over the reins of the party, Gadkari said: “Amitabh Bachchan is not Dawood Ibrahim. Why do you treat him like a villain? Actually it is being done because Sonia Gandhi does not like him and in Congress nobody has the guts to speak against her. The party is the personal property of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.”
He said that the Congress, in the name of practising secularism, is in fact appeasing terrorism. “The BJP is not against Muslims. In fact, we are not against any religion. It was the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee which made A P J Abdul Kalam the President. But we are against terrorist organisations like Al-qaeda and the LeT. We are against apeasing terrorists, which Congress does. And this party which appeases Pakistan cannot protect the country,” he said.
He also squarely blamed the Congress for the price rise and said that the policies followed by the Congress are responsible for the hike. “A total of Rs 4.45 lakh crore was lost on future trading and speculations. It’s the people’s money that was lost. The Prime Minister and the finance minister will have to answer where this money has gone,” Gadkari said.
He exhorted party workers to spread out in villages and build units at the grassroots level. “A wind of change is blowing and people are looking for an alternative. Our party should grab the opportunity and bring an alternative,” the BJP president said. BJP general secretary Kirit Somaya, who also spoke at the conference, said that Bangladeshis have become a headache not only for West Bengal but Mumbai too.
–Agencies