India / Out of gutter, into drain: Vijayvargiya on Kanhaiya's entry into Cong

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kailash Vijayvargiya hit out at former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar on Tuesday with a pointed remark. Referring to Kumar's decision to leave the Communist Party of India (CPI) and join the Congress instead, Vijayvargiya said, “If someone comes out of the gutter and falls into the drain, then I can only sympathise with him.” 

Notably, ex-CPI leader Kanhaiya Kumar joined the Congress on Tuesday in the presence of party leader Rahul Gandhi in Delhi. Addressing the media at Congress headquarters soon after the induction of the youth leader, the party's general secretary KC Venugopal had said, “Kanhaiya Kumar is a symbol of the fight for freedom of expression in this country. He fought against fundamentalism as a student leader. The joining of kind of dynamic personality will fill the entire cadre of Congress with enthusiasm.”

Later on Tuesday, Vijayvargiya's remarks followed BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya's assertions that Congress is joining ranks with forces that intend to ‘break’ the political unity in India. Ahead of Kanhaiya's joining, Malviya had tweeted, "On the anniversary of the surgical strike, Congress to admit Kanhaiya Kumar and Jignesh Mewani of “Bharat tere tukde honge” fame. This can’t be a mere coincidence. Joining hands with “Breaking India” forces is now Congress’s raison d’être.”

Vijayvargiya, who was speaking to reporters in Indore, was also quizzed on the recent political developments in West Bengal, including the upcoming by-poll for the Bhabanipur constituency. “It is not possible to have fair elections there, not even one per cent,” Vijayvargiya was quoted as saying by the ANI news agency. “… so what Dilip Ghosh [the former BJP Bengal chief] has said is right, the polling booths will be captured, voters will not be allowed to come out. Hence elections get captured in West Bengal.”

Ghosh, who is currently the BJP national vice-president, had said on Monday that there is no point in holding elections if the state administration under the Trinamool Congress (TMC)-led government cannot conduct an ‘unbiased’ election.