‘Not Babri Masjid, we want…’: Himanta Sarma slams Rahul Gandhi in Karnataka

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has slammed Congress MP Rahul Gandhi for allegedly trying to defame India in his comments in London speech and claimed that he could never be able to become the PM prime minister until Narendra Modi is there.

Speaking at a ‘Vijay Sankalp’ rally at Kanakagiri in poll-bound Karnataka, Sarma said, “We have to bring the Bharatiya Janata Party to power here. We do not need Babri Masjid anymore, we want Ram Janmabhoomi. Rahul Gandhi tried to defame India in London, but I want to him that ‘you will never be able to become the PM until Modi ji is there,” news agency ANI quoted Sarma as saying on Monday.

Sarma’s rally comes on a day when Rahul Gandhi’s “democracy under attack” remarks in the UK rocked Parliament with several Union ministers leading the charge against him, demanding an apology and the Congress countering it with its JPC demand on the Adani issue. Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned without transacting any business on the first day of the second leg of the Budget Session following uproarious scenes and repeated disruptions amid vociferous sloganeering by both treasury benches and opposition members.

Sarma claimed that Gandhi abused Indian Parliament on a foreign soil, while Modi praises his motherland wherever he goes.

“PM Modi is working for the development of Karnataka and the rest of the country. When he travels to London or America, he praises our country. But when Rahul Gandhi visited London, he abused our Parliament,” the Assam CM said at Gangavathi in the Koppal area.

At the prestigious Cambridge University Gandhi had recently claimed that the basic structure of the Indian democracy was under attack.

“Everybody knows and it has been in the news a lot that Indian democracy is under pressure and under attack. I am an Opposition leader in India, we are navigating that (Opposition) space. The institutional framework which is required for a democracy — Parliament, free press, the judiciary, just the idea of mobilisation, moving around — all are being constrained. So, we are facing an attack on the basic structure of Indian democracy,” the Congress MP had alleged.

Taking a dig at the Congress leader, Sarma said Gandhi came to Karnataka for ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ and then talked about ‘Bharat Todo’ (destroying India’s image) in London.

Urging the people of Karnataka to vote the BJP back to power in the upcoming assembly election, Sarma said under the leadership of Modi, the country will become a ‘Visva Guru’ (world leader).

“We have to bring the BJP back to power in Karnataka. The Vidhan Sabha election is the semi-final. Our main objective is to play the final and make Modi ji the PM for the third time in a row. Under the leadership of Modi, India will become a Vishwa Guru during the ‘Amrti Kaal’ (golden era),” Sarma said.

Karnataka is scheduled to go to the assembly election before June, as the term of the 224-member Assembly is set to end on May 24.

In the 2018 poll, the BJP had won 104 seats to emerge as the single-largest party, while the Congress and JD(S) bagged 78 and 37 seats respectively.

While the Congress and the JDS formed the government, the BJP later reclaimed the hustings after prising out several legislators from the ruling parties, thereby reducing the previous government to a minority.