BJP takes swipe at Rahul Gandhi over interpretation of ‘ek hain to safe hain’

BJP criticizes Rahul Gandhi's 'ek hain to safe hain' slogan, calls out Congress for alleged scams and violent rhetoric.

Following Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s jibes at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the ‘ek hain to safe hain’ (united we are safe) slogan, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday (November 18, 2024) took a swipe at the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

“It was the same old tape recorder, in which there are two or three names that he keeps repeating. Today’s was a low-level press conference by a so-called competent leader of a so-called national party...displaying a strongbox and indulging in the theatrics around it: all this does not behove Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party,” said BJP MP and spokesperson Sambit Patra at a press conference.

Referring to social media posts, Mr. Patra claimed that Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, when asked about Mr. Gandhi in an interview, had earlier described him as a “small parrot”.

About the use of a strongbox as a prop by Mr. Gandhi, the BJP leader said: “There are two meanings of ‘safe’, but a person makes a choice based on his mindset. The word relates to ‘security’ and it also means a ‘tijori’. He is not to be blamed for taking it as a ‘tijori’, it is rather the fault of the clan that has repeatedly broken into the coffers to loot the country over the years,” he said, listing the alleged scams like “National Herald”, 2G, Antrix Devas, coal scams, and AgustaWestland cases under the Congress-led UPA regime. Mr. Patra said “both the mother and the son” were currently out on bail.

The BJP also criticised Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge for his “killing the poisonous snake” remark at a public rally in Maharashtra. “You will call us snakes, you will talk about crushing us...Had we said so, you would have started complaining about democracy being in ‘danger’...this is your ‘Emergency’ mentality because of which you compare your rival party and its leaders, elected by people in several States, with a snake and incite violence against them,” said Mr. Patra, adding that people would give a ‘befitting response’ to the Congress in Jharkhand and Maharashtra on November 23 (Assembly election results).