Union Minister and veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Giriraj Singh on Friday lashed out at Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi, saying the Congress should be renamed as "Muslim-Maoist Party" as Singh claimed that majority of its winning candidates in the Assam Assembly polls are Muslims.
"Since Rahul Gandhi came to power, the Congress party is no longer the same; it has become a Maoist-Muslim Congress," the Union Minister told reporters in Bihar's Begusarai. He added: "I challenge him to show whether or not 98 per cent of Congress' winning candidates in Assam are Muslim."
"Now the party's name should be changed to Maoist-Muslim Congress," he reiterated. Moreover, the Union Minister accused LoP Gandhi of being "Urban Naxal". Giriraj Singh said: "Muslims are everything for them (Congress). They (Congress) abuse people who follow 'Sanatan' and even obstructed the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam."
Referring to the AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi, Union Minister Singh said: "Now (Asaduddin) Owaisi can abandon his party, it is no longer needed because his party been replaced with Congress by Rahul Gandhi." "The number of Muslim candidates that that Congress has is even more than Owaisi's party," he claimed.
Meanwhile, Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday had objected to the Union Cabinet's decision to grant 'Vande Mataram' the same statutory protection as the national anthem. Owaisi had claimed that 'Vande Mataram' was actually "an ode to the Goddess and hence cannot be treated at par with the national anthem".
Reacting to the AIMIM Chief's remark, Giriraj Singh said: "Vande Mataram is a prayer for Bharat Mata and whoever wishes to stay in India will have to worship Bharat Mata." Addressing Owaisi, the Union Minister added: "Sharia law would not work in the country."
BJP IT Cell Chief Amit Malviya took to social media platform X to issue a detailed rebuttal to the Opposition's claims that giving such a status to the national song would alienate the masses and promote discord in society. He said that India's rich civilisational heritage belongs equally to all citizens and Vande Mataram is an inseparable part of that heritage.