Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj’s late night jig during the BJP protest at Rajghat here set off the verbal duel between the two parties. Congress leaders viewed Swaraj’s dance as an affront to the sanctity of the Rajghat. They demanded that she should resign from the post of Leader of the Opposition and tender an apology.
Sushma, on the other hand, declared that she and others in the BJP would dance to the beat of patriotic songs “till their last breath” whether it was at Rajghat or anywhere else. She sought to turn the tables on the Congress, claiming that the cyber world was full of videos and pictures of theCongress President Sonia Gandhi and other leaders dancing.
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh ridiculed the BJP as “a party of dancers.”
Another general secretary B K Hariprasad criticised Swaraj and other BJP leaders for breaching the sanctity of Rajghat, which had been traditionally deemed as a place for sobriety and reflections.
The incident occurred in the early hours of Monday. The BJP was holding a 24-hour ‘satyagraha’ in Rajghat since 7 pm on Sunday, protesting against the police action in Ramlila Maidan the previous night. Top party leaders Nitin Gadkari, L K Advani, Arun Jaitley and others were present. Around 2 am, Swaraj – dressed in a cream-coloured saree – joined Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha chief Anurag Thakur and a few others to swing to the tune of a Hindi song ‘Yeh Desh Hai Vir Jawano Ka’ (this is a country of brave soldiers).
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