Karnataka Polls: After Bajrang Dal Ban Issue, Cong Attracts Criticism for Sonia Gandhi’s ‘Sovereignty’ Comment

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s choice to use the word ‘sovereignty’ with respect to Karnataka did not go down well with the ruling BJP, which has once again found fresh ammo to attack the grand old party and its campaign ahead of the May 10 assembly elections. The former party president attracted sharp criticism from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, other BJP leaders as well as netizens, who heavily objected to a sentence from the speech at her first rally in the state on Saturday, where she said the Congress will not allow anyone to pose a threat to “Karnataka’s reputation, sovereignty or integrity”.

“CPP Chairperson Smt. Sonia Gandhi ji sends a strong message to 6.5 crore Kannadigas: ‘The Congress will not allow anyone to pose a threat to Karnataka’s reputation, sovereignty or integrity’.” tweeted the Congress from its official handle.

A day after Sonia’s comments went viral, Prime Minister Modi tore into them and accused the Congress of openly advocating the separation of Karnataka from India. Referring to the comments, the prime minister said the “disease of the ‘tukde-tukde gang’ (anti-national elements) has reached the top level of the Congress”.

A report published by Siasat quoted PM Modi as saying: “When it comes to working against India’s interests, Congress’ royal family will be at the forefront. I want to speak about a serious issue here, I want to say it as there is a lot of pain in my heart. This country can never forgive such a game. This family, to influence the politics in the country, is encouraging foreign forces to interfere.”

The PM was addressing a public meeting in Mysuru district, where he even accused the Congress of secretly meeting foreign diplomats “who hate India, repeatedly indulging in activities that insult India’s sovereignty”.

Later, BJP’s national IT cell head Amit Malviya retweeted a video of Modi’s reaction to the Congress leader’s comments. “Sonia Gandhi spoke about Karnataka’s ‘sovereignty’… A sovereign by definition is an independent nation. Does Congress think of Karnataka as independent from India? This is an insult to freedom fighters from Karnataka, who fought for India’s independence. It is an insult to millions of patriotic Kannadigas, who swear by India and cherish their Indianness. Congress’s top leadership is afflicted with ‘टुकड़े टुकड़े गैंग’ mentality. Shame on them. Karnataka will punish them. #NannaVoteModige”

Sonia also got a strong reaction from Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai, who asked the Congress to stop making a “mockery” of itself. Retweeting Sonia’s pictures posted by the Congress handle, he said: “Congress party, which was in cohort with banned PFI, extends an olive branch to parties such as SDPI for electoral gains, has fielded a candidate who central agencies raided for links to funding extremists is speaking of Sovereignty. Kindly stop making a mockery of yourselves!”

Annamalai accused the Congress of fielding a candidate raided by the central agencies for alleged links to “funding extremists” and said the party was in cahoots with organisations like the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) and its political wing Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI).

Netizens also chimed in with respect to Sonia’s comments with many saying the Congress was trying to divide the country with its “anti-India” narrative. One Twitter user said using words such as sovereign and sovereignty “loosely” was a “dangerous trend”, while another said the Congress always drove a “divisive” rhetoric that “seed hate and discord in society”.

At the rally in Hubbali, Sonia launched a scathing attack on the BJP and said Karnataka as well as the rest of the country could not make progress without getting rid of the ruling party’s “loot, lies, ego and hatred”. She also said the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ led by her son Rahul Gandhi a few months ago was against those spreading hatred. “This was the reason that lakhs of people joined Rahul Gandhi’s 4,000-km march”.

“Neither Karnataka nor India can make progress without getting rid of the atmosphere of BJP’s loot, lies, ego and hatred,” Gandhi said. “It is everyone’s responsibility to strengthen our voice against this (BJP) government’s dark rule.”

She was flanked on the stage by Congress president M Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and former Karnataka chief minister Jagadish Shettar, who recently quit the BJP over the denial of ticket and joined the party. The party has fielded Shettar, a six-time MLA, from Hubli-Dharwad Central constituency, from where he had won the previous assembly polls in 2018.

Gandhi said people have seen how rattled the BJP was in this election due to which it has resorted to all “kinds of repression”. “Don’t you feel that dacoity has become the business of those in power? You had not given them power in 2018 but they robbed the government and captured it. Then, their 40 per cent commission government got busy in looting,” she alleged. Accusing BJP leaders of being “egoistic”, she said they neither answer any questions nor any letter addressed to them.

(With PTI inputs)

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