Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 23 Jan: Bharatiya Janata Party today launched a sharp attack on the Congress, accusing it of operating what it termed a ‘shop of hatred’ to sell “goods of lies”. In a statement issued today, BJP State President and Rajya Sabha MP Mahendra Bhatt alleged that a true face of Congress leaders has now been exposed and that their tendency to spread lies and rumours on various issues has once again come to the fore. Bhatt added that the Congress leaders would be answerable for this conduct in the court of the people.
Commenting on what he described as a recent conspiracy involving the son of a Congress MLA, Mahendra Bhatt said that over the past several days, Congress leaders had indulged in excessive rhetoric in an attempt to build their political image. He alleged that the party organised dharnas and even issued threats of a city-wide shutdown besides whipping up public sentiment without waiting for any investigation or establishing facts. He said the government had repeatedly appealed to the opposition not to indulge in politics that could disturb public harmony until the police apprehended those responsible, but no Congress leader paid heed. According to him, now that the truth has come out, the same leaders have fallen silent. He claimed that not a single Congress leader had accepted responsibility for misleading the public and that those who reacted were merely trying to shield their families from embarrassment. He further questioned who would have been held accountable had the irresponsible conduct of Congress leaders resulted in a breakdown of law and order.
The BJP leader alleged that while the Congress projects itself as running a ‘shop of love’, in reality it operates a ‘shop of hatred’ where lies are traded as political currency. He said that, as in other parts of the country, Uttarakhand too has witnessed a long list of incidents fuelled by what he described as Congress-sponsored misinformation and confusion. Referring to the Ankita case, he said that even after the accused were sentenced to life imprisonment, the opposition sought to cast doubts through unverified viral videos. He added that with the state government initiating a CBI probe with the consent of the victim’s family and individuals seen in the videos coming forward to record their statements, the Congress narrative now stands exposed.
Mahendra Bhatt cited several other instances to support his allegation, including branding central investigative agencies as biased whenever Congress leaders come under scrutiny, attempting to create divisions between Garhwal and Kumaon over the diversion of Char Dham routes, raising unnecessary issues to pit the hills against the plains, and spreading misinformation over what he termed transparent and leak-proof recruitment processes. He further accused the Congress of maligning the image of Kedarnath Dham by making what he called impractical allegations of gold theft despite investigation reports to the contrary, spreading rumours about disaster relief operations, and defaming the state through fabricated figures related to development and law and order.
He also alleged that the Congress provides political patronage to illegal religious encroachments and speaks of ‘Uttarakhandiyat’ while opposing the Uniform Civil Code, anti-conversion laws and measures aimed at checking demographic imbalance. Describing the situation as extremely unfortunate, Mahendra Bhatt said the party’s animosity towards the BJP government and organisation had reached such a level that it was willing to jeopardise the state’s social harmony, religious sites and cultural traditions. He remarked that despite being repeatedly defeated in elections after its falsehoods were exposed, the Congress appeared unwilling to learn any lesson. Asserting that the BJP would show no political leniency in matters concerning the state’s interests, he expressed confidence that the party would register a decisive victory in the 2027 Assembly elections.
