Prime Minister Narendra Modi has hit out at Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi over his “treasonous” remark to Union Minister of State (MoS) for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu outside Parliament that it was an “insult” to the Sikh community. Prime Minister Modi described Rahul Gandhi as the party’s “shatir dimaag wale yuvraj” and said his arrogance had reached its peak.
PM Modi said, “What happened yesterday – ‘Juvraj’ of Congress, who has ‘shaatir dimag’, called the MP of this House a ‘traitor’. His arrogance is at its peak. He did not call anyone else who left Congress a traitor. But he called the MP a traitor because he is a Sikh. This was an insult, an insult to the Guru.”
“That was an expression of the hatred against Sikhs that is filled in the Congress…He is a family member who sacrificed himself for the country. Just because he changed his political ideology, he became a traitor? That is not a small word. How can the country tolerate a citizen being called a traitor?…This is very unfortunate. Such people will sink the Congress.”
What did Rahul Gandhi say to Ravneet Bittu?
Rahul Gandhi and Ravneet Singh Bittu engaged in an exchange of words outside Parliament on Wednesday, February 4, with the Lok Sabha LoP calling Bittu a “traitor”. Also read | Ravneet Singh Bittu has reservations about calling Rahul Gandhi “terrorist number 1”: “Why should I feel sorry…?”
The incident took place when some Congress MPs were protesting at Makar Dwara outside Parliament. The exchange of words began when Ravneet Bittu commented on the protesting MPs saying, “They are sitting as if they have won the war,” ANI reported.
Just as Ravneet Bittu was passing by, Rahul Gandhi referred to him as a “traitor” as he extended his hand to shake hands.
Raveent Bittu quit the Congress and switched to the BJP just before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Rahul Gandhi said, “A traitor is walking by. Look at the face.” The Congress leader offered to shake his hand and said, “Hello brother, my traitorous friend. Don’t worry, you will come back (to the Congress).”
The Union MoS refused to shake hands and called Rahul, “Desh ke dushman (enemy of the state).
A BJP MP later claimed that Rahul Gandhi behaved the same way inside the House. “When I went inside, he did the same thing even inside the House. The Speaker sent them out. Even outside they behaved like ‘sadak ka gunda’. The Gandhi family always targeted Sikhs and turbans… We are all colleagues who meet each other every day. Rahul Gandhi is LoP, but I don’t know what happened to him, what happened to him. He told me again that he will come back in my hands. with me,” Bittu said.
“I was good to you while I was with you (in Congress). Now that I am in BJP, you have started liking me. But how can you say that for me? How can you say that I will come back to you? When I replied to him…if you see the video, he wanted to escalate it to manipulate me…stop him, you can see it in the video,” the BJP leader added.
