New Delhi: Congress on Thursday hit out at Team Anna and BJP for relating the attack on Union Minister Sharad Pawar to public anger over price rise. "There is nothing Gandhian about violence. If you are Gandhian, the first premise is your commitment towards non-violence. If one`s belief is not in non-violence, I leave it to your discretion to decide how much he had followed Gandhi`s ideologies," party spokesperson Manish Tewari said.
He had been asked to comment on reports that Anna Hazare wondered whether it was "just one slap" when asked about the attack. Hazare had also said that people are angry about many things and the government has to think how to keep the anger of the masses under check.
Tewari also condemned remarks of another Team Anna member Kiran Bedi, who said that while condemning assault on public functionaries, (one) needs to analyse why this is happening and what must be done to contain this.
The Congress spokesperson asked people to take cognizance of such statements of "those, who profess to be Gandhians are, instead of condemning such shameful incidents, trying to condone violence and say if it is not done, it will lead to violence." "Are you going to put a gun to the neck of Parliamentary democracy," the Congress spokesperson wondered.
Criticizing senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha for his remarks that continued price rise could lead to violence, he said it reflects their "true intentions" and such expressions are not fit for democracy or parliamentary decorum.
Tewari said some publicity seekers seem to have made a profession out of targeting public figures and hoped that the law enforcing agencies will take "strongest actions" so that the trend is "put to rest permanently. "We condemn the attack in strongest terms. It is unfortunate."
Asked whether he saw any correlation between Yashwant Sinha`s statement and the attack today, Tewari said it was for the investigating agencies to find that out but termed the BJP`s statement as "condemnable".
Another party spokesperson Rashid Alvi blamed the BJP for the "unfortunate" incident saying, "It was a result of the opposition party leader`s statement made to incite the public.
"If the opposition party says that people will resort to violence due to rising prices, it means they are inciting the people of the country... If a political party incites the public like this, then it will have such results."
Alvi said, "All political parties and their leaders should be very careful in giving their statements," as such remarks weaken democracy.
PTI