New Delhi:
Nitin Gadkari has called Sonia Gandhi "the symbol of fascism." The BJP President launched his attack on the leader of the Congress as he launched the BJP website at the party's Kolkata office.
"I want to tell Sonia Gandhi, 'If you are trying to impose emergency in the country,
ham eent ka jawaab pathar se dena jaante hain' (we know how to retaliate in kind)."
Mr Gadkari's statements - designed and certain to evoke a fiery response from the Congress - were based on the government's decision to dismantle Baba Ramdev's camp in Delhi earlier this month. The yoga guru, accompanied by 65,000 supporters, was on a fast against corruption and black money.
"Sonia Gandhi says she will fight corruption. It is like Pakistan saying they will fight terrorism. Will anyone believe this?" Mr Gadkari challenged.
He also said, "They (the Congress) have made it a crime to protest against corruption."
The Congress, a few hours later, returned fire. "We will not descend to their gutter-level politics. We will not retaliate. But we demand an apology," said Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan.
Despite the prefaced promise, she then said, "The BJP has dragged the discourse to gutter-level politics. Gadkari is unfit at any level to be a player in not only national but any level of a democratic polity because of the venom and the lack of culture in his discourse."