Shimla (Himachal Pradesh): In response to Anurag Thakur's speech in Himachal Pradesh on Saturday, in which he alleged that the Congress will give Muslims "your property," the grand old party filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Thakur, the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, stated on Saturday at a rally in Himachal Pradesh's Hamirpur that the Congress's manifesto, which states that it "wants to give property of your children to the Muslims," clearly shows the influence of foreign powers.
"In the Congress manifesto, along with the hand of the Congress, hands of foreign forces are also visible who want to give your children's property to Muslims, finish the nations nuclear weapons, divide the nation on casteism and regionalism," Thakur said.
"The tukde-tukde gang has surrounded Congress completely and has hijacked their ideology. You have to decide whether the children's property should remain with them or should it go to Muslims. We gave all rights to Muslims, equally. But we did not give it based on religion, we gave it because it was their right," he added.
Thakur went on alleging that Rahul Gandhi's father, Rajiv Gandhi became the Prime Minister, there was a law that 55 per cent of the property would go to the government but he abolished this law and saved his property. "Now, Rahul Gandhi did not get married so he wants to take away your children's property. The Gandhi family does whatever suits them," he said.
The Congress refuted PM Narendra Modi's prior claim that, if the party won the Lok Sabha polls, they would divide wealth to include women's gold and mangalsutra and filed a complaint with the ECI. In a letter to PM Modi, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge requested more time to go over the Congress manifesto. However, Thakur continued spark fuel to the controversy.
"It is for the public to decide that your property should go to your children or the Muslims. We have given equal rights to the Muslims from toilets, to houses to gas cylinders to food but not in the name of religion," Thakur said in Harimpur on Saturday.
BJP Chief, JP Nadda, also reiterated some factions from the PM's speech in Rajasthan, where he mentioned Muslims and claimed the Congress intended to "redistribute wealth to infiltrators," in a five-minute video message that was uploaded on the BJP's X handle on April 27.
He said, "Congress says Muslims have first right on country's resources, whereas PM Modi says poor people must have the first right." Congress General Secretary, Jairam Ramesh, stated that the grand old party would "name and shame the offenders" if they did not receive "immediate and meaningful" action against Thakur in their complaint.
The minister's statement comes after intense debate between PM Modi and leading opposition figures over allegations that the Congress would take Indian riches and divide it among Muslims. The PM said that the Manmohan Singh-led Congress government had stated that Muslims have the first claim to the nation's riches at rallies in Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh.
"@INCIndia has written to the ECI to take note of the speech and issue Mr. Thakur a notice immediately. The ECI must realise that a lack of meaningful action emboldens these bad faith actions. And if they do not take action then we will name and shame these offenders who think they are above the law, both in the arena of the public as well as before the courts," Ramesh wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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