Robert Vadra draws BJP's wrath for linking Pahalgam attacks with Hindu-Muslim 'divide'

New Delhi, April 23 (IANS) Businessman and Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra found himself in the firing line of BJP on Wednesday, over his drawing parallels between Pahalgam terror attacks and the ‘growing divide’ between Hindus and Muslims in the country, for which he blamed the Centre.

A couple of BJP spokespersons, speaking to IANS, tore into the prestigious member of Gandhi family and also demanded that he apologises for the reprehensible remarks.

“Robert Vadra’s statement is condemnable and reprehensible in the first place. What kind of language is he speaking... it is the language of terrorists. He must apologise,” Nalin Kohli said.

“The nation is in shock and anger over killing of innocent people in Pahalgam. They were singled out by religion and then shot dead in front of their family members. Prime Minister Narendra Modi cut short his Saudi Arabia visit while Home Minister Amit Shah rushed to the Kashmir Valley to take stock of situation,” he stated, highlighting the urgency with which the government dealt with the issue.

Tearing into the grand old party and Gandhis, Kohli said: “On one hand, Congress says that it is with the government in fight against terrorism while on the other hand, a notable member of Gandhi family makes such deplorable comments. Will the victims get justice by this means.”

“The Congress will have to clarify its stand on the issue. The Gandhi family will also have to give answers on Vadra’s irresponsible comments. Robert Vadra must apologise to the nation for such loose comments,” he demanded.

Shahzad Poonawala also hit out at Robert Vadra for giving Pakistan a clean chit, within hours of the bloody carnage, even before the mortal remains of innocent victims could reach their grieving families.

He told IANS: “Robert Vadra, one of the key faces of the Congress, allegedly at the behest of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, has given clean chit to Pakistan but puts the blame squarely on Hindus and Hindutva for the massacre of Hindus in Pahalgam,”

The BJP spokesperson further said: "The Congress has consistently aligned itself with Pakistani Islamic jihadists — be it during the 26/11 attacks, where blame was swiftly shifted onto Hindus, or in incidents like Pulwama, the Samjhauta Express blast, and now the Pahalgam attack.”

He said that it is no secret that tourists were first segregated on the basis of religious identity and then killed in cold blood but Vadra goes on to exonerate terror-sponsoring nation and justify the terror attacks.

Robert Vadra stirred a major row, earlier in the day, with his comments: "In our country, we see that this government will talk about Hindutva, and the minorities feel uncomfortable and troubled... if you dissect this terrorist act that took place, if they (terrorists) are looking at people's identity, why are they doing this? Because there's a divide that has come about in our country with Hindus and Muslims," Vadra stated.

--IANS

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