Patna, Feb. 2: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday took a tough stand on the rising tirade of the Shiv Sena against Biharis and north Indians in Maharashtra and ignored the Sena’s demand that he apologise for his comments a day before glorifying the contributions of Bihari members of the NSG during the 26/11 attack.
In an apparent attempt to dare the Shiv Sena to douse the burning sentiments in poll-bound Bihar, an unruffled Mr Gandhi said he was more interested in the unity of India than what the Thackerays were saying. He used the second day of his two-day Bihar tour by attacking the Shiv Sena for parochialism and Bihar’s Nitish Kumar-led NDA government for its failure to use Central funds for real development.
"Every part of India belongs to every Indian. I am not interested in what Raj Thackeray or Uddhav Thackeray says. People have a right to go anywhere. I am not going to remain silent when people of UP and Bihar are stopped from going to Maharashtra," he said.
Anand S.T. Das and Prasad Patil