New Delhi:
Just days after he triggered outrage with his analogy of a puppy being run over in the context of the 2002 communal riots,
Narendra Modi has delivered a new boldface controversy.
The Congress is offering a litany of tweets and comments to counter the Gujarat Chief Minister's theory that when in trouble, the Congress "hides behind the
burqa (veil) of secularism."
Shashi Tharoor, junior education minister, known for making Twitter his stomping ground, posted, "Modi says we "hide behind the burqa of secularism". Preferable, surely, to the khaki shorts of intolerance&hatred that he now tries to hide?"
Manish Tewari, minister for Information and Broadcasting, said, "The Veil of Secularism is inclusive while wheels of communalism consider Libertarians as KUTTE KA Baccha - PUPPY to be crushed under their SUVs."
(Who said what)Mr Modi last week, in an interview to Reuters, refuted allegations that he had failed to do enough to stop hundreds of Muslims from being killed in his state in 2002, during his first term as chief minister. When asked if he regretted the violence, Mr Modi responded, "If someone else is driving a car and we're sitting behind, even then if a puppy comes under the wheel, will it be painful or not? Of course it is."
The statement caused a political firestorm, forcing Mr Modi's office to issue a clarification which said there had been a "gross distortion" of the chief minister's remark.
At a rally in Pune on Sunday, his first since he was chosen by the BJP to lead the party's election campaign, Mr Modi faulted the government for a sluggish economy and said, "Whenever the government is in trouble, they put on the
burqa (veil) of secularism so that no one questions them on real issues and problems."
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