The Congress party on Sunday condemned the BJP after a video, now deleted from the ruling party's Assam unit X handle, allegedly depicted the targeted killing of minorities, prompting calls for judicial intervention without leniency.
According to PTI, the video purportedly showed Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma aiming a rifle and firing at two individuals—one wearing a skull cap and the other with a beard—accompanied by the caption "point-blank shot".
PTI reported that Congress general secretary in charge of organisation, K C Venugopal, criticised the BJP on the matter. "An official BJP handle posted a video showing the targeted, 'point-blank' murder of minorities. This is nothing but a call to genocide - a dream this fascist regime has harboured for decades," Venugopal said on X.
He added that this was not an innocuous video to be ignored as troll content, but as poison spread from the very top, and there must be consequences for this. "There is no hope that Narendra Modi will condemn or act against this, but the judiciary must act, and there shouldn't be any leniency shown in this case," Venugopal said.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate stated that deleting the video, which showed Assam Chief Minister Sarma "shooting Muslim men" with the caption “point-blank shot”, was not enough. "This is who the BJP really is: Mass murderers. This venom, hatred and violence is on you, Mr Modi. Are the courts and other institutions sleeping?" she said on X.
According to PTI, Congress spokesperson Shama Mohammed posted on X: "@narendramodi, you talk about 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas', but your favourite man, Himanta Biswa Sarma, made a video Shooting Muslims and got it posted from the official handle of BJP Assam." “This is an attack on the Indian Constitution. I am shocked that the Supreme Court of India is acting as a mute spectator. The court's silence and failure to take suo motu cognisance puts its role into question," she added.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi also criticised the BJP. “The BJP Assam Pradesh X handle posted one of the most hate-driven, targeted videos titled 'Point Blank Shot'; after outrage, it went on to delete the post, but it was there long enough for many people to download and spread it further," Chaturvedi said on X.
"Shamelessly, EC will ignore this vilest form of hate and political targeting. Toothless and useless, literally, in front of BJP,” she added.
(With inputs from PTI)
