Jaipur: Criticising the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) hostility towards Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said here on Tuesday, “Their (BJP leaders’) blood pressure shoots up just on the mention of the first Prime Minister’s name.”
Gehlot was speaking at a function organised to celebrate the 102nd birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. She was born on November 19, 1917 in Prayagraj.
Answering a query on the ongoing JawaharLal Nehru University (JNU) tussle, the Chief Minister said, “When they can stoop to new lows to insult Nehru on social media, then you can yourself analyse how they can mislead people taking his name. Their BP shoots up whenever Nehru’s name come in.”
“Yeh to peeche pade hue hain JNU ke (They are just after JNU),” Gehlot said.
The BJP had the illusion of forming a Congress-mukt Bharat, but that had been shattered in many states, like Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, he said.
“I had said earlier too that those who shall talk of a Congress-mukt Bharat shall themselves get ‘mukt’ and this situation seems to be coming,” the Congress leader said.
He said the country could never forget the contributions of Indira Gandhi who took the country to a new height, implemented green revolution due to which we became self-reliant in grain production, liberated Bangladesh by splitting Pakistan into two parts and forced surrender of 92,000 Pakistan soldiers.
Even former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee called Indira Gandhi ‘Durga’ in the Lok Sabha, he said and added, it was the birth anniversary of this iron lady today.
“I want our nation’s rich traditions of remembering and respecting leaders for their contributions to continue. It’s part of our rich legacy,” the Chief Minister said.
The NDA government was trying to wipe out their legacy by making people forget the contribution of such leaders,” he said.