Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi's slogan of 'Mohabbat Ki Dukan' (shop of love), Bharatiya Janata Party president J.P. Nadda on Monday claimed the Congress leader was actually running a "mega mall of hatred".
Mr. Nadda accused Mr. Gandhi and other Congress leaders of spewing hate against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Addressing a rally in Godhra town of Panchmahal district following the completion of nine years of the Modi government, Mr. Nadda also accused the opposition parties of turning into "family-centric parties" which were not concerned about the welfare of citizens.
"The Congress people get upset whenever Modiji receives accolades at the global stage. While trying to oppose our PM, Congress leaders have started opposing our country," he said.
"Rahul Gandhi went all the way to Britain to say that democracy is in danger. It was his grandmother [former prime minister Indira Gandhi] who had imposed Emergency in the country in 1975 and imprisoned 1.5 lakh people, and now he is talking about democracy," the BJP leader said.
Accusing Congress leaders of indulging in low-level politics, Mr. Nadda said they had used words like "neech", "bichchhu", snake and "chaiwala" for PM Modi to defame him.
"You are upset because Modiji is serving 140 crore citizens of India. I am surprised how you claim to run 'mohabbat ki dukan' when you are constantly spewing hate for Modiji. You should keep in mind that you are actually running 'nafrat ka mega mall' (mega mall of hatred), not 'mohabbat ki dukan'," he alleged.
While PM Modi is busy serving people, the opposition parties are busy saving their own families, the BJP leader claimed.
He gave examples of the Congress, Samajwadi Party, KCR's party (Bharat Rashtra Samithi), Nationalist Congress Party, National Conference, PDP as well as Chautala and Badal families to claim that these political parties were only concerned about families and the leadership baton was passed only to the heirs of those families.
"These political parties are fighting to save their own families. They are not concerned about you. On the other side, Modiji is fighting for the country," Mr. Nadda said addressing the gathering.
"The Congress has now been reduced to a family-oriented party. It has become a party with only three people - Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi. All other Congress leaders are on contract," he claimed.
