Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh:
Narendra Modi on Friday derided Rahul Gandhi, the Congress Vice President, for alleging that young Muslim men whose families were affected in the communal riots in Muzaffarnagar have been contacted by Pakistani agencies who want to recruit them to work against India. Mr Gandhi said this on Thursday and attributed this information to an unnamed intelligence officer.
"Who is this shehzada (prince)? Why are intelligence officers briefing him?" Mr Modi asked this evening at an election rally in Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh.
In a lengthy denouncement of Mr Gandhi, he went on to say, "It is your responsibility to make public the names of such youth... If you do not disclose the names, then you should apologize publicly for defaming an entire community."
He also said that if Mr Gandhi's claim is correct, then it establishes the weakness of the government that is anchored by the Congress. "How is the ISI freely spreading its influence in the lanes of UP under your very nose? What are you doing about it? You are just acting like a news agency...passing on news of what the ISI is doing."
Mr Gandhi's comment, made at a rally in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday, has roped him into a scaleable controversy. The BJP has accused him of questioning the patriotism of Indian Muslims and wants the government to explain why Mr Gandhi is being briefed by intelligence officers when he is not a member of the government. Others have said Mr Gandhi has wrongly outed sensitive information shared with him in confidence. Muslim leaders have said they are disappointed with his remarks.
His party, however, rose to his defence. "His comment on ISI was a wake-up call," said union minister Salman Khurshid to NDTV. He said he did not know if the disclosure by the interligence officer was made in a briefing or in "a casual conversation."