New Delhi: As the voting for the first phase of Gujarat assembly polls took-off this morning, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been canvassing for the public`s mandate by berating every attack made by the Congress Party, especially over Prime Minister Modi's humble beginning.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi latched on to tweets by one Salman Nizami who, he said, was a Congress leader to tear into the opposition party for allegedly questioning his parentage.
"There is one Congress youth leader called Salman Nizami, who is campaigning for Rahul Gandhi in Gujarat. He said on Twitter that Rahul Gandhi's father (Rajiv Gandhi) and grandmother (Indira Gandhi) had sacrificed their lives, while his great grandfather (Jawaharlal Nehru) was a freedom fighter. Okay, very good, we do not have a problem with that," Modi said.
"Then he (a reference to Nizami) went on to ask that Modi should answer who is his father and mother," he said, quoting from the purported tweets of Nizami.
"The person who has spoken such things is campaigning for Rahul Gandhi. Should we forgive such people? Is this not an insult to our armed forces. To call our armed forces rapist is not their insult? Should we forgive such people?" Modi asked repeatedly.
Interestingly, as the controversy comes to the fore, the Congress sought to distance itself from Nizami, with several party leaders coming forward to deny his association with the party.
Responding to PM Modi's remarks on Nizami, Congress leader Rajiv Shukla said that he didn't know any individual in the party by this name. In fact, he added saying that this could be a plant by BJP in the wake of assembly elections.
On Saturday, Nizami had tweeted: "Rahul Gandhi, son of Rajiv Gandhi. Sacrificed his life for India. Rahul Gandhi, grandson of Indira Gandhi. Sacrificed her life for India. Rahul Gandhi, grand son of Jawaharlal Nehru, fought for India`s independence. Narendra Modi, son of ...? Grand son of ...?"
Another senior Congress leader, Anand Sharma retorted back saying that the Prime Minister has moved away from the real issues.
"Going by the Prime Minister`s language and the allegations he is hurling, I can say that he is rattled. Defeat is staring at him and the BJP in the face. PM has moved away from the real issues. He is not talking of development, employment and economy.
"He is desperately seeking sympathy and support of the people through these actions and theatrical statements," he said.
On the other hand, Nizami, who calls himself to be a Congress worker in Jammu and Kashmir, claimed his innocence and said that Twitter account was hacked.
"I had filed a police complaint in 2015 when my fake Twitter account was created. Five to six accounts in my name were created. I have never used such words," he said.
"How can the Prime Minister quote from a fake Twitter account with authenticating it. Somebody may have hacked my account, who knows," Nizami added.
Social media reaction:
After Rajeev Shukla's statement on Nizami, several photos of the J&K leader emerged on the social media that shows him sharing a stage with senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad. In the second photo, Nizami is seen posing with none other but Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.
Another photo that has been doing round on the social media is a press release that shows that in 2014, Nizami was appointed as the spokesperson for the J&K State Campaign Committee in view of Lok Sabha polls.
