Citing the US’ move to de-link LeT from Haqqani network, Gandhi mocked PM’s close ties with Trump
A political slugfest erupted on the eve of 26/11 Mumbai attacks after to-be-Congress-president Rahul Gandhi took potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the United States passed a law to de-link Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) from the Haqqani terror network. The Gandhi scion mocked the PM's diplomacy of personal closeness with US President Donald Trump as 'hugplomacy' which he claimed had failed.
Gandhi's tweet also chided the ruling dispensation on how despite its US diplomacy Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief and 26/11 Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed walked free from house arrest in Pakistan on Friday.
Gandhi tweeted: "Narendrabhai, baat nahi bani. Terror mastermind is free. President Trump just de-linked Pak military funding from LeT. Hugplomacy fail. More hugs urgently needed."
Retorting sharply, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called Gandhi a 'known sympathiser' of LeT, and alleged that his habits of sympathising with the terror outfit had not changed.
"Rahul baba, aadatein nahi badli hain (habits have not changed). For once, stand with the country & not with terrorists as is your habit. You are a known sympathiser of LeT. WikiLeaks & Ishrat Jahan case cover-up exposed your links. BTW, have you congratulated your 'Hafeez Saheb on his release yet?," tweeted BJP spokesperson GVL Narsimha Rao.
The BJP leader also cited a 2010 WikiLeaks expose in which the whistleblower had claimed that Rahul Gandhi, then Congress general secretary, had told the then US ambassador Timothy Roemer that radical Hindu groups were a bigger threat to India than some Muslim support to LeT.
"Here is proof that Rahul Gandhi is an apologist for LeT, and is the architect of 'Hindu Terror', 'Saffron terror', 'Hafiz Saheb', 'Osamaji' terms mouthed by Sushil Kumar Shinde & @PChidambaram_IN @digvijaya_28," Narsimha continued in another tweet.
In yet another tweet, Narsimha reminded the Congress leader of how affidavits had been changed in Ishrat Jahan case. "Was it not on Family's orders that @PChidambaram_IN changed affidavits giving a clean chit to LeT operative Ishrat Jahan killed in assassination bid on @narendramodi ji? What was @INCIndia 's motive in bailing out LeT, Ishrat ignoring NSA? Rahul, speak up!," Narsimha's tweet said.
Ex-NSA M K Narayanan had claimed last year that the Intelligence Bureau (IB) knew of Jahan's LeT links, but wondered why the then government had changed affidavits in her case.
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