Merchant of hate: Piyush Goyal, Smriti Irani take on Rahul Gandhi for attacking PM Modi

BJP leaders have hit out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi after the latter`s attack on PM Narendra Modi over Alwar lynching incident.

Union minister Piyush Goyal has hit out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi over the latter’s attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over recent incident of lynching of a Muslim man by a mob in Alwar in Rajasthan. Hitting back at the Gandhi scion on microblogging site Twitter, the minister referred to him as a “merchant of hate”.

Pointing that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Rajasthan had already assured “strict and prompt action”, the Union minister accused Rahul Gandhi of dividing the society for electoral gains and shedding “crocodile tears”.

Goyal tweeted, “Stop jumping with joy every time a crime happens, Mr Rahul Gandhi. The state has already assured strict & prompt action. You divide the society in every manner possible for electoral gains & then shed crocodile tears. Enough is Enough. You are a MERCHANT OF HATE.”

Union Minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani, who had contested Lok Sabha elections against the Gandhi scion in Amethi, also hit out at Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of making “attempts to rupture social bonds for electoral gains”.

Raking up the 1984 anti-Sikh riots to target the Gandhi family, the actress-turned-politician tweeted, “Rahul Gandhi’s family presided over the worst form of hate in 1984, Bhagalpur & Nellie & many other instances. It is shameful that he is doing the same through VULTURE POLITICS. Not a single instance goes by where he doesn't attempt to rupture social bonds for electoral gains.”

This came just hours after the Congress president attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the lynching incident in Alwar. While pointing that the policemen reportedly took a tea break while taking the victim to hospital, Rahul Gandhi said, “This is Modi’s brutal New India”.

The Congress chief shared a media report and targeted the government saying policemen took three hours to reach the hospital which was at a distance of six kilometre from the site of the incident.

He had tweeted, “Policemen in Alwar took 3 hrs to get a dying Rakbar Khan, the victim of a lynch mob, to a hospital just 6 KM away. Why? They took a tea-break enroute. This is Modi’s brutal “New India” where humanity is replaced with hatred and people are crushed and left to die.”