On Thursday, Sambit Patra, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), referred to Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, as “a traitor of the highest order”, claiming that the Congressman was connected to foreign forces that were “attempting to destabilize” India.
The French media outfit ‘Mediapart’ published a story that BJP MPs K Laxman and Sambit Patra used to attack Rahul Gandhi.
“I have no hesitation in saying he (Rahul Gandhi) is a traitor of the highest order,” news agency PTI quoted Sambit Patra as saying.
According to Patra, Gandhi, the investigative media outlet Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), and billionaire investor George Soros are all on opposite sides of a “dangerous” triangle that aims to destabilise India and incite public discontent in order to overthrow the current government.
In the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi cited a report about the news portal OCCRP published by Mediapart (a French channel), which asserted that the organization has connections to billionaire George Soros and receives funding from foreign governments. The report also focused on India.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra stated that Rahul Gandhi has staged press conferences to criticize the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government based on OCCRP’s reports, arguing that they cannot be impartial if they are receiving 70% of their resources from a single source.
‘Attempt to malign India’
After an OCCRP report in July 2021 revealed that Brazil had canceled a $324 million purchase for Covaxin, a Covid vaccine made by a private Indian company, Gandhi lambasted the government, Patra said.
The Congress leader claimed that despite the order being revoked in June, the press conference was still based on the report and that it was an attempt to defame India.
Similarly, after an OCCRP report and the media outlet’s “hit jobs” on Indian businesspeople intended to depress Indian markets, Rahul Gandhi attacked the government over the Pegasus issue, according to Patra.
The National Herald case, in which Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi are accused of embezzling hundreds of crores in assets, was also described as “politically motivated” by the OCCRP, according to the BJP party leader.
“OCCRP and Rahul Gandhi are two bodies and one soul,” he stated.
To support his argument, Patra further cited Gandhi’s interactions with certain individuals who were supposedly acting against India’s interests.
“Rahul Gandhi opposes India’s progress. He said that some of these reports were timed to coincide with Parliament’s sessions in order for the Congress to disrupt its proceedings over “fake” news, saying, “He does not want the Indian Parliament to function.”
He claimed that the Congress ought to have discussed the matter in Parliament with the BJP rather than demonstrating.
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