New Delhi, Feb 25 (IANS) Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and the Gandhi family, alleging that they have repeatedly ‘compromised national interests’.
Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters in the national capital, Goyal said, “Rahul Gandhi means compromise. The Gandhi family is fully compromised and is leading a compromised Congress party. Be it the past or present of the Congress party, its corruption and the way they compromise national interests under pressure from the foreign powers, the way they compromise the country and the future of its youth — there are many examples of this in front of the country.”
He further alleged that Rahul Gandhi represents “negative politics” and accused him of disregarding established norms during his foreign visits.
“Rahul Gandhi has become the poster boy of negative politics. A compromised Rahul Gandhi travels abroad 247 times, ignoring and compromising the Yellow Book protocol. When he goes abroad, he compromises with the security arrangements made by the government for him. When he goes abroad, he compromises India and Indians,” Goyal said.
The Union Minister also claimed that Gandhi maintains links with individuals and organisations that he described as anti-national.
“You all know the kind of anti-national forces he has ties to. How he arranges meetings with Ilhan Omar, who has illegal connections with George Soros, continues to surface. We know how he travels to the border-sensitive region in Ladakh and establishes relations with foreign individuals working against India’s interests, like Shakir Mirali,” he said.
Goyal alleged that Gandhi associates with “people who have links with countries like China and Pakistan and with Soros,” and claimed that such engagements undermine the country.
“The country has continuously felt, seen and experienced how he is trying to weaken India economically and harm, destabilise and weaken the Indian economy, for which he repeatedly uses the toolkit of organisations like OCCRP,” he said.
According to Goyal, Rahul Gandhi has projected what he termed a “very clever policy” before both domestic and international audiences.
“In a way, he is nothing but a puppet of anti-India forces, organisations, and governments. This is the compromised Rahul Gandhi and the Gandhi family that we see today, whether inside or outside Parliament or during a press conference. We have seen the behaviour with the press. You can’t even ask an uncomfortable question to Rahul Gandhi without being tagged as a BJP-associated press person. He only wants curated press conferences. Such a person is leading the Congress party,” he said.
He further accused Gandhi of “playing with the country” and “putting the interests of the people of the country on the line.”
Recalling the tenure of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Goyal said, “You saw how Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi wielded extra-constitutional powers. In several instances, they even tore up Cabinet decisions in front of the press. They used to disrespect the Prime Minister, run the government through the National Advisory Council, and impose the Leftist ideology on the country. Rahul Gandhi and his mother used to run a parallel cabinet and compromise the country.”
He also referred to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in connection with the Bofors case.
“Even Rajiv Gandhi never backed down from compromising the country. We all know that in the Bofors scandal, the Foreign Minister tried to stop the Swedish investigation under Gandhi’s directives. To save his friend Ottavio Quattrocchi, an honest investigation was not allowed in Bofors. I don’t know what Congress and Rajiv Gandhi’s hand was in Bofors,” Goyal said.
Targeting former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, he alleged that her tenure also saw compromises of national interest.
“We saw how Ambassador Moynihan confirmed that the CIA used to provide funds to Congress repeatedly for elections. Congress used to run its politics through the CIA. We saw in the Mitrokhin Archives how the KGB used to give money in suitcases to compromise Indira Gandhi. Stories of this Gandhi family’s compromises are seen again and again,” he said.
“This money from the KGB used to go directly to the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s house — this is written in the Mitrokhin Archives. In the 1971 Shimla Agreement, we released 93,000 Pakistanis… Why didn’t they take Pakistan-occupied Kashmir?… Compromised Congress will have to answer,” Goyal added.
–IANS
sd/dpb
