The Congress on Monday hit back at Home Minister Amit Shah for his remarks that the party had “divided” the country on the basis of religion, alleging that it was Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar who had propagated the idea of Partition at a Hindu Mahasabha meeting in 1935.
Refuting the contention that the Congress was responsible forthe Partition, Congress leader Manish Tewari alleged in the Lok Sabha that itwas Savarkar who had propagated the idea of Partition at a Hindu Mahasabhameeting in 1935.
Asked about Shah’s remarks, Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi at aparty press briefing said the allegation was “absolutely baseless”.
Taking a dig at the BJP, Gogoi said the party which had norole in India’s freedom struggle would not know about the history of that time.
“We proudly believe that our country was born onconstitutional ideals and because we built the country in a constitutionalframework, today our country has reached this stage,” he said.
Gogoi said the BJP should remember the speech given by former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj in which she had noted how much the country had advanced in 70 years. “So, the party which had not played any important role in the freedom struggle of the country nor in the building of the nation after attaining Independence, I do not think that party has any right to make such comments,” he said.