Exclusive: Congress is a party of hypocrites, says Khushboo

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Chennai - Indian actor-politician says the Congress is playing a double-game courting Hindu voters while appeasing the minorities.

By V. Prem Shanker

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Published: Fri 16 Oct 2020, 6:17 PM

Last updated: Sat 17 Oct 2020, 2:06 AM

Indian actor-politician Khushboo Sundar, who recently joined the BJP, launched a blistering attack on the Congress party, and questioned its commitment to secularism. She said that her former party was playing communal politics with majority voters while appeasing the minority communities in the country.
"When the opposition parties say that the BJP is only about Hindutva, my question to all the them, including the Congress is, are you courageous enough to admit that you are a party only for the minorities and you do not want the Hindu votes?" Khushboo asked.
Speaking exclusively to Khaleej Times three days after joining the BJP, Khushboo, the former national spokesperson of the Congress, accused the party and its leader, Rahul Gandhi of being hypocritical and two-faced when it comes to politics.
"Why did you go to great lengths to bring out the details of Rahul Gandhi being a Hindu?  You do want Hindu votes right? Why play a double-game and have the face of a hypocrite?  If you (Congress party) are going to play the game that the BJP is only about Hindus, then accept that you are only about minorities...and you don't care for Hindus or Hindu votes. Do they have the guts to do it?" Khushboo wondered.
Born into a Muslim family in Mumbai and after making her mark in Kollywood (Tamil film industry) before joining the DMK in 2010 and later the Congress in 2014, Khushboo, until recently, had been a vociferous critic of the BJP.

But she made a surprise entry into the BJP last Monday and shocked political observers and the masses.

She now questions the Congress party's "appeasement politics" and praises the BJP for "working hard for abolishing Triple Talaq."  

This move by the BJP, she said, makes it clear that the party is working for the minorities and women.

In her tweets before joining the BJP, Khushboo had criticised the Yogi Adityanath government in the state of Uttar Pradesh for its handling of the alleged gang rape and murder of a young girl in Hathras. However, she now says that she is "glad" that UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has handed over the case to the CBI.

"Yes, I have been very vocal about it (Hathras incident). In fact, I did speak about it. I am glad that Yogi Adityanath Ji has ordered a CBI enquiry into the case," she pointed out.

So, do the issues she raised about the Hathras incident regarding the treatment of the victim's family vanish now?

"It does not go away. When Hathras happened, we were protesting in Chennai and all over Tamil Nadu. There was a 19-year old kid who was gangraped in Tamil Nadu. Why has nobody spoken about it? There was another 12-year-old kid who was gangraped. She was blackmailed and her parents were protesting in Chennai. Why did we not raise an issue about it? Because UP is BJP (ruled)."

"Why did Mr Rahul Gandhi not come to Chennai, why when there was a girl raped in Maharashtra did Mr Rahul Gandhi not go to Maharashtra? Why did the Congress here (Tamil Nadu) not raise the issue about the two kids who were raped in Tamil Nadu? You don't play politics with the dignity of a woman," Khushboo said.

She added: "We are not going to play politics saying she belonged to a particular community, or she belonged to a particular religion, or whether she belonged to a BJP or Congress ruled state. She was a daughter of this country and that is why we have to fight to ensure that the daughter of the country needs to feel safe.  She needs to feel empowered. She has to carve out a niche for herself."

Khushboo said that attacking BJP was only a "political idea".

"We don't have to make it political. Everything is not about politics."
Stating that the comments she made against the BJP in the past was because she was muddled in the politics of the Congress. "Attacking the BJP is a political idea. When I fight for a woman, I fight for a woman."

So has she cut a deal with the BJP for her big-bang entry into electoral politics?. "I have no idea about getting a ticket and contesting in the forthcoming elections in Tamil Nadu. I will leave it to the party to decide. There is no bargain, there is no pact signed that this is what has to be given to me and only then I will come into the party. It is faith and it is trust. They trust me and I trust them," Khushboo said.

Asked if she plans to emerge as the most prominent face of the BJP in Tamil Nadu, she quips, "I have no idea, if they think I am the face, I am glad." -
news@khaleejtimes.com


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