New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's tweet on 'mob lynching' seemed to have backfired with the BJP virtually showing him the mirror and went on to describe Rajiv Gandhi as the 'father of mob lynching'.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur flayed Rahul Gandhi for calling media 'dalal' and said, "Rahul Gandhi should tender an apology to entire media". BJP’s IT department head Amit Malviya tweeted, “Meet Rajiv Gandhi, father of mob lynching, justifying blood-curdling genocide of Sikhs. Congress took to streets, raised slogans like ‘khoon ka badla khoon se lenge’,
raped women, wrapped burning tyres around necks of Sikh men while dogs gorged on charred bodies dumped in drains.”
Malviya also posted a short clip of the former prime minister’s speech.
Late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had famously said "earth shakes when a big tree falls". This was seen to be justifying the anti-Sikh violence of 1984 after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards.
Malviya also posted about various riots that happened under the Congress rule between 1969 and 1993. Rahul Gandhi had tweeted on Tuesday – “Before 2014, the word ‘lynching’ was practically unheard of". Union Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey also said, “Mobs killed Sikhs by burning tyres around their neck. Wasn’t it lynching?”
He also referred to the 1989 Bhagalpur riots in Bihar. In fact, on Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi triggered another row when he called media 'dalal'. When asked by journalists about his tweet on mob lynching, the Congress leader said “Dekhiye sarkar ki dalali mat kare. Don’t try to divert". (See, don’t speak on the behalf of the government. Don’t divert)”.
His comments have been flayed by Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur, who said even in the past Rahul Gandhi had used unpalatable words against media. He said Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and those in the media should speak out on the matter.
"Rahul Gandhi should tender an apology to entire media," Mr Thakur said.
