Kiren Rijiju’s ‘Balak Buddhi’ dig as Rahul Gandhi, other Congress leaders protest against Gautam Adani

Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday launched a scathing attack on the Congress, saying its intentions to “destroy India and defeat PM Modi” will fail, even as the Opposition party staged a protest demanding a probe into allegations against industrialist Gautam Adani at Parliament.

Kiren Rijiju’s jibe at the Congress is the latest in the series of the war of words between the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress over the Adani issue. The two parties have been engaged in a tussle over Gautam Adani’s US indictment and George Soros’s alleged link with Congress leaders.

Sharing a few images of Gautam Adani with Congress leaders Revanth Reddy, Ashok Gehlot, Rahul Gandhi, and Robert Vadra, Kiren Riiju asked the grand old party to focus on introspection rather than creating a scene and wasting public money.

‘Balak Buddhi’

“Instead of doing tamasha & wasting the public money, Congress should introspect as to why people are not taking ‘Balak Buddhi’ (an apparent reference to Rahul Gandhi) seriously,” the Union Minister said in a post on X.

He further said, “If Congress leaders want to destroy India to defeat PM Modi ji, they will fail. India will defeat the Anti-India forces and their Associates.

The Congress has been accusing the BJP of running away from discussions on Adani’s US indictment and other corruption charges against the industrialist.

Rijiju’s thread of X posts stemmed from his response to a jibe Congress MP Shashi Tharoor had taken on the BJP.

Citing a media report that said the US embassy had responded to BJP allegations, Tharoor posted that the ‘clearly’ the saffron party neither understands democracy nor diplomacy.

Sharpening his attack on the BJP, Tharoor said the party is so “blinded by petty politics that they forget the value of a free press and vibrant independent civil society organisations in a democracy, and they are oblivious to a ruling party’s responsibilities in maintain good relations with key foreign countries.”

“This attack-dog behavior is an embarrassment to India,” he said in December 8 X post.

Kiren Rijju hit back at the Congress MP while referring to the George Soros connection.

“No need to act, as if you are on the payroll of George Soros. Democracy and Diplomacy are for the country’s interest, not means to abuse – own country in tandem with the adverse foreign elements. Expected better from you Shashi…” Rijiju wrote.

Tharoor’s ‘old friend’

Furthermore, the BJP leader also shared a screenshot of Tharoor’s old post on X, formerly Twitter, where he called George Soros “an old friend”.

The screenshot, of a post from May 26, 2009, read, “Met old friend George Soros, upbeat abt India and curious abt our neighbourhood. He’s far more than an investor: a concerned world citizen.”

“India can not be fooled, threatened and ignored,” Rijiju said. He said that it was high time to be done siding with those who treat our nation as a poor country.

“Enough of Sycophancy & Bootlicking to those who still treat India as third world begging country. Time has changed!” the Union minister exclaimed.

The BJP has claimed that Sonia Gandhi is connected to an organization which is funded by George Soros Foundation and which has ‘backed’ the idea of an ‘independent’ Kashmir.

Earlier, the party had also accused Soros, who has been an outspoken critic of PM Modi, of attempting to influence India’s “democratic process”.