New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday condemned Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmed’s comment on LK Advani, saying he had gone beyond all standards of political propriety.
Ahmed had said that Advani should have stayed on in Pakistan to serve Hindus, because they are in bad condition there.
Reacting to the controversial remark, BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad asked Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to give a clarification on whether Ahmed’s comment represented the official line of the party.
“Shakeel Ahmed Khan has gone beyond all standards of political propriety and dignity. I would like to ask Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh that does Shakeel Ahmed represent the official line of the Congress party? And, what does he mean by saying all this? I think that the Congress Party needs to restrain him,” said Ahmed.
“Millions of Hindus were uprooted during the unfortunate partition. Dr Manmohan Singh, Late Shri Inder Kumar Gujral came and became the Prime Minster of this country. Advaniji also came like them. It is the cultural, moral and constitutional obligation of India to insure that whenever Hindus are persecuted anywhere in the world, the issues of human rights concerning them must be raised,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ahmed said there is nothing new in his remark and he has been saying this for the last 20-25 years, because it is a fact.
“I have been saying this thing for years because it is a fact that Hindus in Pakistan are in bad condition, but he (Advani) came here to serve them instead of serving them there. If he were there, he might have done better service to the Hindus, but he certainly had not got the fame and position there, what he has got in India,” said Ahmed.
“Now, his internal opponents within BJP are raising the issue in media,” he added.
ANI
First Published: Monday, February 04, 2013, 16:04