Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday tweeted that his party stands with the most vulnerable, irrespective of the religion or caste the person belonged to. The statement came in the wake of the BJP targeting him over an alleged remark attributed to him in which he said the Congress was a “party of Muslims”. “I stand with the last person in the line. The exploited, marginalised and the persecuted. Their religion, caste or beliefs matter little to me. I seek out those in pain and embrace them. I erase hatred and fear. I love all living beings. I am the Congress,” Rahul said. The BJP had been demanding that Rahul clarify the remark attributed to him during his meeting with Muslim intellectuals. The controversy erupted on Saturday after Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Congress of being a party of Muslim men during a speech at a rally in Azamgarh. He also said, “I have read in newspapers that the Congress naamdar (dynast) has said that the Congress is a party of Muslims. This debate has been on for the last two days. I am not surprised because during the Manmohan Singh government, the Prime Minister himself that said that Muslims have the first claim on the country’s resources.” Regarding former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s remarks that Modi referred to, journalist Pankaj Pachauri, who was media adviser to Singh between 2012 and 2014, shared a 2006 speech of the former Prime Minister and stated that Singh’s statement was being distorted. In the speech, tweeted by Pachauri, Singh said, “I believe our collective priorities are clear. Agriculture, irrigation and water resources, health, education, critical investment in rural infrastructure, and the essential public investment needs of general infrastructure, along with progammes for the uplift of SC/STs, other backward classes, minoritories and women and children. The special component plans for SCs and Scheduled Tribes will need to be revitalised. We will have to devise innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are empowered to share equitably in the fruits of development. These must have the first claim on resources.” Reacting to Rahul’s tweet, the BJP claimed that the Congress president did not deny his “Congress is a Muslim party” remark. “He (Rahul) has still not denied it. We could not see a negation of what Rahul Gandhi has said. It is a confession. He has clearly accepted it through his tweet that the Congress is a party for Muslims,” BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said. The tweet has confused rather than clarified, he told reporters. Rahul pledges support to Shah Faesal Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday came out in support of IAS officer Shah Faesal against whom the Jammu and Kashmir government has initiated action based on some tweets. Last week, Faesal had tweeted regarding incidents of rapes in India. On Tuesday, Rahul wrote to Faesal, expressing “solidarity” with him. He said he found it “extremely troubling that the government has singled you out for voicing your opinions”. The action, he added, “exhibits an insecurity that is unbecoming of any government”.
