BJP minister describes Rahul Gandhi as "merchant of hate"

Attacking Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his "brutal new India" comments against the Modi government, a senior BJP minister today called him a "merchant of hate" and accused him of dividing the society for electoral gains.

Gandhi, in a tweet, on the lynching incident in Rajasthan last week where a Muslim man was attacked after being accused of cow smuggling had said: "...This is Modi's brutal 'New India' where humanity is replaced with hatred and people are crushed and left to die,"

"Stop jumping with joy every time a crime happens, Mr Rahul Gandhi. The state has already assured strict and prompt action. You divide the society in every manner possible for electoral gains and then shed crocodile tears. Enough is enough. You are a MERCHANT OF HATE," Finance Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted.


Textile Minister Smriti Irani accused Gandhi of doing "vulture politics" and claimed that not a single instance goes by where he doesn't attempt to "rupture" social bonds for electoral gains.

"Rahul Gandhi's family presided over the worst form of hate in 1984, Bhagalpur, Nellie and Many other instances. It is shameful that he is doing the same through vulture politics," she tweeted.

Reacting to reports, Gandhi in the tweet, had also said that: "Policemen in #Alwar took 3 hrs to get a dying Rakbar Khan, the victim of a lynch mob, to a hospital just 6 KM away. Why? They took a tea-break enroute."