Rahul Gandhi 'Sardar' Of Lies, Congress Opened 3 Detention Centres In 2012: BJP On 'PM Of RSS' Tweet

The BJP on Thursday hit back at former Congress chief and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi for his tweet where he termed PM Narendra Modi as ‘Prime Minister of RSS’. Calling Gandhi ‘sardar (chief) of lies’, BJP’s Sambit Patra said that the COngres had opened three detention centres in Assam back in 2012. “UPA Govt in 2012 had asked the Assam Govt of Tarun Gogoi to set up detention centres. The number of foreigners kept in 3 detention centres opened in Golpara, Kokrajhar and Silchar are as follows: Golpara: 66 Kokrajhar: 32 Silchar: 20,” Patra said while giving out the details of the then central government’s decision.

“This data is from UPA Govt's 'White Paper on Foreigner's Issue' that was published in 2012. Rahul Gandhi has the gumption and audacity to call the present PM a liar,” Patra retorted. Reiterating party line, Patra said that, “There is no connection of setting up detention centres and NRC. Detention centre is for foreigners who are in India illegally and to ensure they do not vanish. This is just a confinement center to control his/her movement.”

“People of India are intelligent. They know how to differentiate between a liar and a performer. While we have a liar in Rahul Gandhi, we have a performer in PM Modi,” Patra further said. The response was to a tweet by Rahul Gandhi in which he had shared a media footage of the detention centers in Assam along with a acerbic caption that read:  - "RSS's Prime Minister lies to Bharat Mata".

Amid the ongoing controversy over the Citizenship Law, the issue of detention centre has added to the fire. Last week during a rally in Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that  there were no detention centres in India and no Muslims are being detained in the country. He also accused the Congress and its allies of "spreading lies" about the NRC and the amended Citizenship Act amid countrywide protests.

"The Congress and its allies - some Urban Naxals - are spreading rumors that all Muslims will be sent to detention centres. At least value your education... at least read once about the Citizenship Amendment Act," PM Modi said at a mega rally at Ramlila Maidan where he launched the BJP's poll campaign for the assembly elections in Delhi next year. 

However, the Congress slammed the PM and tweeted screenshots of media reports which had claimed that detention centres are built in Navi Mumbai and Assam’s Goalpara. The party also shared a screenshot of a report that quoted Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai as saying that 28 people had died in the detention centres in Assam from the beginning of 2016 till October 10, 2018.