New Delhi, Feb 28 (IANS): Flaying Prime Minister Narendra Modi for seeking to strengthen electoral booths rather than the country, the Congress on Thursday said for the BJP, party was above the nation.
On a day when Modi, while holding a mega video conference with Bharatiya Janata Party workers, exuded the confidence of winning the Lok Sabha elections, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said the BJP should rise above "crass politicking".
"At a time when the nation is looking towards its leadership and wants it to speak to it, the Prime Minister chose to address the booth workers of the BJP rather than addressing the nation.
"When the priority should be further strengthening the nation, the Prime Minister thinks this is the time to strengthen the electoral booths," Tewari told the media here.
"Modi in his addresses always claims that for him and his party, nation comes first. But when the time came to actually display that, he made it apparent that for him his party is above the nation," said the former Union Minister.
The Congress leader's comments came a day after 21 Opposition parties unanimously expressed their anguish over the BJP and the Modi government's "blatant politicisation" of the armed forces' sacrifices.
Pointing at several BJP leaders seeking to politically encash the air strike by the Indian Air Force (IAF) on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) training camp at Balakot in Pakistan on Tuesday, Tewari said that by doing so, the BJP leaders were actually playing into the hands of the Pakistan propaganda.
"The day the non-military preemptive strikes took place, BJP President Amit Shah was appealing for the re-election of the Prime Minister. The Home Minister was in Chhattisgarh, attending political programmes of the BJP while former Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa said that the strikes will help the BJP win 22 of the 28 seats in the state.
"All these statements are playing into the hands of the Pakistan propaganda. We would like to tell the BJP-led NDA government that they need to reign in the motormouths. This is not the time for crass politicking," Tewari said.
Expressing concerns over the escalating tension between India and Pakistan, Tewari said it was time for the BJP and the Modi government to act like one and stand together with the nation.
"The sensitivity of the entire situation is completely lost on the BJP. The nation and the entire Opposition is standing as one and there is a need for the Modi government and the BJP to come together," added Tewari.