BJP's charges against Rahul 'concocted', says Congress

New Delhi, July 14 (IANS) The Congress on Friday termed as "concocted and lies" BJP's allegations that party chief Rahul Gandhi had described the Congress as a "Muslim party" and said the biggest black mark in India's history has been the Gujarat riots of 2002 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of the state.

The party also accused the Bharatriya Janata Party (BJP) of trying to create "tension and division" among people belonging to different religions and polarize the nation.

The BJP on Friday said that a newspaper had reported that Gandhi had told Muslim intellectuals during his meeting with them that the Congress is a "Muslim party".

BJP leader Nirmala Sitharaman said that Gandhi should come clean on his reported statement and accused him of playing communal politics ahead of the 2019 general elections.

"The news which was reported in a newspaper about Rahul Gandhi's meeting... These are all concocted, these are not true. These were being twisted in media reports. If peace gets disrupted in the country, Home Ministry and the government would be responsible for it, not the opposition," said Congress spokesperson Sushmita Dev.

Taking a dig at Modi, Dev said: "Biggest black mark in the history of India has been the riots of Gujarat and Prime Minister Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat at that time. Till today, he has not owned up moral responsibility for that."

"If Sitharamanji is levelling allegations against the Congress party, I want to say that she is trying to create tension and division among people belonging to different religions. Congress leaders have not made any statement that would create tension," she added.

"Congress believes in secularism. Why is she silent on Rafale scam? Why is Prime Minister silent on unemployment and farmers' suicides? They should prepare themselves to reply to these questions during the monsoon session."

Sitharamanji is a responsible Defence Minister and her press statement is clearly in line with PM Modi's agenda of polarising the country before elections, she said.

"There is unemployment among youth, farmers are committing suicide, there is no trace of Nirav Modi. Just to divert attention from these questions, the Defence Minister did the press conference today (Friday) in the name of religion. She should reply to the real issues," Dev added.