Hyderabad: KT Rama Rao (KTR), the working president of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, accusing him of supporting the ideology of Nathuram Godse, Mahatma Gandhi's assassin. KTR strongly came down on PM over his silence on incidents of communal violence across the country, IANS reported.
Addressing a select group of journalists, KTR said, "I am of the firm opinion that this Prime Minister actually, tacitly and directly endorses and supports the ideology of the killer of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation," and added that Godse was independent India's first terrorist.
KTR then dared PM Modi to arrest him like how the Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani was arrested by Assam Police.
On communal clashes, he said, "So many incidents are happening across the country where certain sections of the society feel threatened and insecure. How come the Prime Minister doesn't utter a word when all this is happening in full public glare. There is a saying: what you permit is what you promote. If you are permitting by staying mum, aren't you promoting it? You are the Prime Minister of the country and not just the leader of the BJP and an RSS ideologue. I am entitled to say this, and if it makes it a culpable offence, so be it," KTR stated.
KTR further said that he doesn't see any rise in BJP but unemployment and inflation in the country. While the former is the highest in 45 years, the latter is the highest in 30 years, he said.
But he admitted that diversionary tactics are winning in the country. He said that what should be in focus is jobs instead of hijabs. It is the real issue that needs to be debated instead of "halal" and jhatka. "It's not a big deal if a leader's chest grows to 56 inch. Every poor's chest should be 56 inch," he mocked Modi.
KTR went on to say that TRS wishes to expose BJP's failed model and project Telangana's golden model before the country.
He said that Telangana solved the electricity problem in six months, while its lift irrigation project was done in four years, meaning such developments could be rolled out in the whole country easily. He claimed that both IT and agriculture are going hand in hand in the state, while the environment is also taken care of.
He said it was Congress's fault BJP stills stays large after the former failed to bring out issues of various parts of the country to the centre stage. Wherever BJP is in a direct contest against Congress, BJP is strong, while strong leaders like Mamata Banerjee, Naveen Patnaik and MK Stalin defeated BJP, he pointed out. In terms of performance, BJP is not consistent in South India, except in Karnataka.