BJP insulting nation builders, trying to disprove history: Cong's Anand Sharma

Anand Sharma. Pic/AFP

Congress candidate from Himachal Pradesh's Kangra Lok Sabha seat Anand Sharma on Monday accused the BJP of trying to disprove history and insulting the nation builders as he asserted that Manmohan Singh left a strong India and a stout economy in 2014, reported news agency PTI.

At an election rally in Churah of Chamba district, he also lashed at the BJP-led Centre for its "step brotherly treatment" towards the hill state during last year's monsoon disaster.

All states are given relief package by the Centre from the National Disaster Relief Fund in the wake of a calamity but Himachal Pradesh was deprived of it as the people voted for the Congress in the assembly polls, Sharma claimed. "The BJP is extolling the 10 years the Narendra Modi government as 'Amrit Kaal' but it was 10 years of 'anyay' (injustice), the senior Congress leader said as he called upon people to vote for his party "to bring back the era of justice", reported PTI.

Addressing the rally, he said, "Independent India's journey did not commence in May 2014 as being portrayed by BJP leaders. It started on August 15, 1947, and the shape the country took thereafter is for everybody to see." "Can history be disproved?" Sharma asked. "Our thoughts were different and inclusive -- taking everybody along irrespective of their caste, creed, religion, language and region. But there is another thought of drawing lines between castes, regions and languages. Creating a north-south divide is dangerous and would weaken the country," he said. Asserting that the former prime minister Manmohan Singh left a strong economy and a strong country, Sharma said, "India became nuclear power when Indira Gandhi was prime minister and Aryabhata (satellite) was launched," reported PTI.

"I deem it necessary to tell all this as our history, nation builders and martyrs are being insulted which no nation can accept. Those who say India was weak, I want to remind them that it was Indira Gandhi who intervened in the interest of humanity despite pressure from the USA and China and freed the people of East Pakistan by creating Bangladesh," the Congress leader said. He said that during the Bangladesh liberation war, one crore refugees had taken refuge in India and one lakh Pakistani soldiers were captured. Even former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had praised Indira Gandhi as 'Durga' in Parliament. Sharma said, reported PTI.

(With inputs from PTI)