The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday launched a fresh attack on Rahul Gandhi stating that the Congress leader was “pretending not to be a coward” after apologising to the Supreme Court of India for his previous remarks.

This comes amid the political controversy after the former Wayanad MP was disqualified from the Lok Sabha following his conviction by a Surat court in a defamation case over his ‘Modi surname’ remark. Addressing a press conference here today, Irani said that Rahul Gandhi has been convicted by the court for “abusing” the OBC community.

Irani’s remarks came days after Rahul Gandhi after his disqualification had during a press conference stated “My name is not Savarkar, my name is Gandhi and Gandhi does not offer an apology to anyone”. The BJP has been demanding an apology from Rahul Gandhi over his ‘Modi surname’ remarks for which he was convicted last week.

“He (Rahul Gandhi) abused and accused PM Modi in Parliament but could not verify his own statement by authenticating it with his own signature. He is the man who apologised to the Supreme Court and pretends today not to be a coward. Rahul Gandhi has been convicted by the court, for not abusing an individual but the OBC community is known to every citizen of our country,” she said.

In 2019 May, Rahul Gandhi had tendered an unconditional apology in the Supreme Court for his ‘Chowkidar Chor hai’ jibe against Prime Minister Modi.
In today’s press conference, Smriti Irani said, “In an attempt to insult PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi also insulted the entire OBC community. This is not the first time Gandhi family has tried to insult people from Dalit or backward communities.

Rahul Gandhi could not develop the humility to beg the forgiveness of the OBC community in our country is just another manifestation of the political arrogance called the Gandhi family.

“When a woman from the tribal family became the President, even then Droupadi Murmu was insulted by a Congress member on the instructions of the Gandhi family,” the Minister added.

Citing an interview of Rahul Gandhi in the past, Irani said that he had vowed to destroy Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s image, however, he did not succeed.

“Rahul Gandhi in a magazine interview said that Modi Ji’s strength is his image and he will destroy that image. He said that he will keep attacking PM Modi’s image until he destroys it. The Gandhi family tried to malign the image of PM Narendra Modi when they were in power but they failed miserably. Rahul Gandhi’s promise to a magazine editor to rip Modi’s image apart is a promise that shall remain unfulfilled because PM Modi’s greatest strength is the people of India,” she said.

When asked about a notice served to Rahul Gandhi by the Housing Committee of Lok Sabha to vacate the government bungalow allotted to him, Irani said, “The house does not belong to him, it belongs to the common people.”

The union minister further slammed Rahul Gandhi and Congress over the reported “gungi-behri” remark for her by President of Indian Youth Congress Srinivas BV. “Shabd Rahul Gandhi ke hain, sanskar Sonia Gandhi ka hain bas zubaan Yuva Congress ki hain (The words belong to Rahul Gandhi, culture (sanskar) of Sonia Gandhi, only the tongue is of the youth Congress.) I am saying this because he is not the first youth Congress chief who is making indecent remarks,” she said.

The union minister also took a jibe at Rahul Gandhi over the Opposition’s supporting Congress on his disqualification, and said, “Are you not able to recognise the capability of the man for whom the Congress party is ‘trying’ to garner support?”

Opposition parties, in a show of strength, had marched from the Parliament complex to Vijay Chowk on Monday against the Centre over the Adani issue and Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification.