Dismissing Rahul's speech, BJP says Rajiv Gandhi was more inspiring

Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi today received praise from the BJP with the party describing his speech in the 80s as "passionate" and "inspiring," while dismissing Rahul Gandhi's Jaipur speech as that of an "opposition leader".

"He (Rahul) certainly spoke like a leader of the Opposition rather than a person belonging to the ruling party," BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said here.

Recalling Rajiv's speech, she said, "I am able to recall when Rajiv Gandhi had taken over his role, a greater role in his party, he had spoken very passionately about how the party should get out of the hold of power brokers. It was a very, very inspiring speech, no doubt."

Referring to Rahul's address at the Congress Chintan Shivir, she said, "Today Rahul Gandhi has spoken with a great lot of idealism. I hope he is able to implement most of the things that he said within his own party first and prove it to the country that he is able to achieve it within his own party before he probably would ever become the PM, if at all, so good luck."

On Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde's Hindu terror statement, she said, "They first start saying saffron terror, they engage with terrorists and later on they say Hindu terror. They also would like to call BJP and related organisations and sometimes name a patriotic, nationalistic organisation such as the RSS as a terror outfit."

Taking on Shinde, the BJP leader said, "The Home Minister should better know that he cannot escape from the responsibility of bringing answers to the table rather colour of terror."

Condemning this "periodic misleading of the people in the name of terror politics", she demanded apology from the Minister. "We demand that the Home Minister retracts and also apologise for the statement," she said.