The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday tore into Opposition's Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), with Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling it "directionless", saying terror outfits also have 'INDIA' in their names.
The Prime Minister said this at the BJP's parliamentary party meeting, chaired by him here on Tuesday morning.
On July 18, twenty-six political parties including the main Opposition Congress announced the name of 'INDIA' in Bengaluru to fight against the ruling BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing the MPs in the parliamentary party meeting said that the name 'INDIA' also has a strange coincidence. He said that the East India Company and Indian National Congress were formed by the Britishers," senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters after the meeting.
He said: "The Prime Minister said the Indian Mujahideen was founded by the terrorists and organisation like the Popular Front of India also has INDIA."
The Prime Minister in the meeting said that he has not seen such "directionless" Opposition till date, Prasad quoted Modi as saying, in an apparent reference to Opposition's 'INDIA'.
Echoing similar sentiment, BJP national president JP Nadda also took a swipe at the Opposition spearheaded by the Congress.
"There was a child who failed in all his exams. He was hated by his classmates and neighbours. So the parents thought of changing his name to change his perception. Isn’t the case similar to that of I.N.D.I.A?" Nadda wrote in a tweet.
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah also took to the micro-blogging site and wrote: "In a bid to get rid of its hounding past, the opposition alliance has changed its nomenclature. But merely changing the name to I.N.D.I.A. will not erase their past deeds from public memory."
"The people of our country are wise enough to see through this propaganda and will treat this old product with a new label with the same disapproval," Shah said .
On Tuesday afternoon, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi hit back at Prime Minister on his 'INDIA' jibe and said, "Call us whatever you want, Mr. Modi. We are INDIA."
"We will help heal Manipur and wipe the tears of every woman and child. We will bring back love and peace for all her people. We will rebuild the idea of India in Manipur," Gandhi wrote in a tweet referring to the Manipur violence.
Ethnic clashes erupted in Manipur on May 3 and since then hundreds of people have lost their lives whereas thousands have been forced to take refuge in the relief camps.
On Monday, the Manipur CM told IANS that his government is taking measures to restore peace at the earliest in the state.
Also read | PM Modi slams Oppn, says terror outfits also have INDIA in their name
