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The strong BJP offensive came after the Karnataka police booked Malviya for ”promoting enmity within groups” and ”instigating people” by posting a video that had taken a swipe at Gandhi over his recent US trip and accused him of siding with people opposed to India’s interests.
Union minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani said June ”inspires” the Congress to ”delve into its draconian past”, a reference to the proclamation of the Emergency in this month in 1975.
Where the Congress has instruments of the state, they are used to stifle democratic voices from political organisations which ideologically stand against the opposition party, she alleged.
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Irani said the FIR has been lodged because ”the truth was spoken as it just indicates that as far as the Emergency goes in the Gandhi family, the apple has not fallen far from the tree,” a swipe at Gandhi as it was his grandmother Indira Gandhi who as prime minister had imposed the Emergency and had gone after her critics in 1975.
In clear support of the suggestions made in the video, which prompted the criminal case, Irani reiterated the allegations against Gandhi that he ”hobnobbed” with people with suspicious credentials, including those close to billionaire investor George Soros who wants to ”destabilise” the democratically elected Indian government, during his recent visit to the US.
She also attacked Gandhi for the involvement of Tanzeem Ansari of the Islamic Circle of North America in hosting a programme of the Indian diaspora during his visit, alleging Ansari has an organisational link with the Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamic organisation.
A House of Representatives resolution in the US had earlier expressed concern about the threat posed to democracy by theocratic groups operating in South Asia, she told reporters, adding that a part of the resolution highlighted the affiliation between the Islamic Circle of North America and the Jamaat-e-Islami.
”Have you ever seen a Gandhi family member who organises a meeting through a person supported by Jamaat–e-Islami,” she said.
She said the Gandhi family has again given proof of how far it can go to suppress the truth if it gets power.
The question that has been left unanswered by the Congress is whether it is true that Gandhi met Sunita Vishwanath during his trip to the US, she asked.
”When it is known to every Indian what George Soros intends to do, why is Gandhi hobnobbing with those who are funded by George Soros? It’s also evident that this is not the only Soros connection. Even in Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Karnataka the Global VP of the Open Society Foundation, funded by George Soros, was found accompanying Gandhi,” she said.
The case was registered against Malviya following a complaint from Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee member Ramesh Babu in connection with a tweet posted by Malviya recently, state police said on Wednesday.
Reacting to the development, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla took to Twitter to slam the Congress and alleged, ”The FIR against Amit Malviya is nothing but a malicious use of provisions of law to silence, intimidate.” ”At best, if Rahul Gandhi was aggrieved by any tweet, he could have filed a defamation case in court,” he said.
”Using the state machinery to settle scores only shows that Congress’ own communication and social media paraphernalia is supremely incompetent and hence needs a state police to fight its battles! Pathetic. See you in court,” Poonawalla said.
Soon after the FIR was registered, Malviya reposted the same tweet with a caption in Hindi, ”Rahul Gandhi Videshi Taaqaton ka Mohra” (Rahul Gandhi a pawn of foreign forces).