Why Narendra Modi is silent on Ramdev’s controversial remarks: Congress

Questioning the “silence” of Narendra Modi over Ramdev’s controversial remarks against Rahul Gandhi, Congress on Wednesday wondered whether the BJP PM candidate was justifying the insult of dalits by the Yoga guru.

“Narendra Modi’s silence on the issue is deafening. He speaks on every issue, but why is he silent on this? Is he seeking to justify the insult of dalits or is he giving tacit support to what Ramdev has said,” party General Secretary Shakeel Ahmed told reporters.

He also said that Congress believed that BJP is supporting Ramdev on this issue and the Election Commission should look into this aspect as well and “not only take action against Ramdev, but take action against BJP”.

This, he said, showed the mindset of BJP towards dalits.

“Yesterday, BJP spokesperson was explaining different connotations of ‘honeymoon’ in a bid to justify what Ramdev had said,” he said.

Ramdev created a controversy by his remarks :”He (Rahul Gandhi) goes to Dalits houses for a honeymoon and for picnics. Had he married a Dalit girl, then his luck could have clicked and he would have become the Prime Minister”.

He also slammed BJP for seeking votes in the name of Kargil martyr Capt Vikram Batra.

Citing a world Bank report, he said India has emerged as the third biggest economy in the world after the US and China and relegated Japan to the fourth position.

“This is an answer to Modi’s negative campaign against us that India was down in the dumps in the UPA rule”, he said wondering why BJP is silent.

“If BJP does not want to congratulate Congress and UPA, it can congratulate people of the country and those who were instrumental for the achievement,” he said.

—PTI