Either substantiate claims or offer apology: Sampla to Rahul Gandhi

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Union minister Vijay Sampla chided leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi for his statement in the Parliament. 

Sampla said Rahul’s statement was filled with “falsehoods, disappointment and baseless claims.” He said that the Opposition leader’s behaviour “did not align” with the decorum expected in the Parliament.

Terming Rahul’s statement “anti-Hindu”, Sampla said the Congress leader should either substantiate his claims with evidence or offer a sincere apology to the country, in the Parliament. 

Sampla was addressing a press conference at the BJP office in Ludhiana. 

“Rahul Gandhi, who has failed three consecutive times, insulted Hindus by labelling them as violent, hateful and dishonest. After winning 99 seats, they are branding Hindus as violent, hateful and liars, which reveals their true intentions,” said Sampla. 

“Can Rahul Gandhi explain who was responsible for the 1984 Sikh massacre, who oppressed the people during the Emergency and who shot at saints?” Sampla questioned.

Sampla emphasised that such behaviour was a “habit” for the Congress, which previously made similar statements on multiple occasions.

“The Congress and its supporters will now try to justify his statements with various excuses.  In 2010, the then Union home minister P Chidambaram labelled Hindus as terrorists and in 2013, former home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde did the same,” he added.  

Sampla also criticised what he claimed was Rahul’s “selective silence” on violence in West Bengal, the intentions of Hizb-ut-Tahir in Tamil Nadu and his “colleagues’ incitement of violence” in Kerala.

Sampla added that Rahul also made false statements about the Agnipath Scheme, farmers, Ayodhya and the microphone issue.