BJP Assam to file sedition case against Rahul Gandhi over tweet

A controversy has erupted over Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's tweet which stated that Indian union existed from "Gujarat to West Bengal", prompting accusations of ceding the North-East to China, from the Bharatiya Janatha Party in Assam. A thousand sedition cases will be filed in the matter, representatives said.

"There is strength in our Union. Our Union of Cultures. Our Union of Diversity. Our Union of Languages. Our Union of People. Our Union of States," Rahul Gandhi had said in the tweet. In the same tweet, he had further mentioned that this union from "Gujarat to West Bengal". Following the tweet, Chief Ministers of Assam, Tripura and Manipur pointed out that the Congress leader missed mentioning the northeast.

The issue has provoked a blistering reaction from BJP Assam leaders who have questioned Gandhi's ability to lead a national party as well as his ignorance.

"India is far beyond just a union. We are a proud Nation. Bharat cannot be held hostage to your tukde tukde philosophy. What is your problem with Nation, Nationality and Nationalism? And hello- beyond Bengal, we Northeast exist," Assam chief Minister and BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma said on February 10.

The filing of the sedition case against the Congress leader comes at a time when Congress' student wing has launched protests against the Assam Chief Minister for his remark against Rahul Gandhi asking whether the BJP had ever demanded proof of him being the "son of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi".

Addressing a rally in Uttarakhand, the Assam Chief Minister recently criticised Rahul Gandhi and mocked the latter, asking why Gandhi had sought proof of a surgical strike when nobody had asked him proof whether he was Rajiv Gandhi's son.

"In order to preach, Mr. Rahul Gandhi has forgotten our beautiful North Eastern states. Just like his great grandfather, he excluded our region? We are also a proud part of India. Your ignorance is the reason of your party's total wipe out from Northeast," Said Tripura Chef Minister Biplab Kumar Deb who lambasted Gandhi for his "ignorance" along with Manipur CM N. Biren Singh.

Several North-Eastern BJP leaders as well as Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment Pratima Bhoumik have suggested that Gandhi's remark shows why and how the Congress became 'irrelevant' in poll-bound states