The BJP has pounced on a leaked video featuring a speech by Congress leader Kamal Nath at a closed-door meeting with Muslim clerics and members of the community in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh to paint the Opposition party as “anti-Hindu”.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra claimed Nath had vowed to “finish them off (nipta denge)” although the clip suggests the Congress leader had said “we will deal with (nipat lenge)” while referring to the “divisive politics” of the RSS.
The meanings of “nipat lenge” and “nipta denge” vastly differ. “Nipat lenge” means dealing firmly with someone or some issue while “nipta denge” means “finish off”.
Patra appears to have chosen to twist “nipat lenge” to “nipta denge”, claiming that Nath told the Muslims to “finish off” the Hindus, while the Congress leader was talking about dealing with the RSS.
Party insiders said the BJP was finding the going tough in the upcoming Assembly elections in at least two of the three party-ruled states and was trying to play the Hindutva card to turn the tide. Three BJP-ruled states — Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh — are going to the polls.
Patra accused the Congress and Rahul Gandhi of having “blatant and brazen hatred towards the RSS and the Hindus”. Patra did not take any questions from the media, saying there was no provision of questions in the “bite” format he was using to address the issue.
“The leaked video shows the kind of hatred the Congress has for the RSS and Hindus,” Patra said.
In the video, Nath, the Congress chief of Madhya Pradesh, can be seen and heard telling the Muslim community to be very careful of the RSS’s divisive politics till the votes are cast. “Hum inse nipat lenge baad me (We will deal with them later),” Nath is heard saying. The subtitled clip uploaded by the BJP on Twitter also shows the phrase “nipat lenge”.
Patra, however, claimed Nath told the Muslims that “chunav ke baad hum unko nipta denge (After the elections, we’ll finish them off)”.
“Don’t you worry? We are going to finish off the other community, the RSS, meaning probably the Hindus also. After the election we will see to it, ‘hum unko nipta denge’ (we will finish them off),” Patra quoted Nath as saying.
Patra said the video had exposed Rahul’s “fancy-dress Hinduism” of claiming to be a “Shiv bhakt”. He accused the Congress of always practising divisive politics and appealed to the voters of Madhya Pradesh and the other four states going to the polls not to vote for the party.
Neither Nath, who was busy campaigning in Madhya Pradesh, nor the Congress responded to the BJP’s accusations.
Some BJP insiders acknowledged in private that the party was facing a tough election in the three states and was looking for an emotional issue to tide over anti-incumbency against the state governments.
They said the leadership was confident of retaining power in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh but now realisation had dawned that it might not be easy.
“About Chhattisgarh, we are confidant, but Madhya Pradesh, which we initially were assured of retaining, is turning out to be very difficult,” a BJP leader said. The party leadership has almost given up hope of retaining Rajasthan.
