BJP attacks Congress over India’s distorted map at CWC venue

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday attacked the Congress over a distorted map of India on a banner at the venue of the Opposition party’s executive committee meeting in Karnataka’s Belagavi. It accused Congress of “appeasement politics” and asked whether it was done at the instance of George Soros, a Hungarian-American philanthropist, whom the BJP has accused of sponsoring Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s critics.

BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said the map on the banner at the venue of the Congress Working Committee meeting excluded Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Aksai Chin from India. “...the picture about the Congress working with the forces bent to destroy India is quite clear now…and this is not just one incident.”

Trivedi claimed Congress’s ally and Tamil Nadu’s ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam put out a similar map in October last year, excluding PoK and Aksai Chin. Trivedi added Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Opposition, and Congress lawmaker Shashi Tharoor did the same in 2020 and 2022. He asked the Congress whether this was a coincidence or part of a planned anti-India experiment. “…Is this coming from Soros Secret Service?”

Trivedi said it was not just about maps and claimed the Congress supported people who spoke about cutting the “Chicken’s Neck” or Siliguri Corridor—a narrow strip of land in West Bengal connecting northeastern states with the rest of India—during the protests against the Citizen (Amendment) Act or CAA. “What was the relation between Chicken’s Neck during the CAA protests.”

He said Congress is the main Opposition party and its members of Parliament have pledged to uphold India’s integrity and unity. “...so the Congress and the leader of the Opposition are violating the constitution or not,” said Trivedi. “The Congress is working to divide India based on province, caste, and class.”

Trivedi said a Congress leader of Karnataka asked for nationhood since the state was paying more taxes. He added former Union minister Saifuddin Soz said that Kashmiris would like to be independent if allowed to exercise their free will. Trivedi said that was also mentioned in Soz’s book. He asked whether there was thought in Belgavi as to how India should be divided. “Or some Congress proposal is under consideration or has the party [Congress] high command set up a committee which will continue the kind of anti-India politics or is there an attempt to make people fight against each other.”