Congress on Thursday staged a protest in Pune against Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad and BJP MP Anil Bonde over their controversial remarks against Rahul Gandhi.
Pune City Congress chief Arvind Shinde accused the BJP of tarnishing Gandhi's image to divert attention from its failures, referring to the incident of the collapse of a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
While staging the protest at the Collector's Office, Shinde said, "The BJP is intentionally maligning Gandhi to ensure the public forgets this mishap."
Congress MLA Ravindra Dhangekar, speaking to The Free Press Journal, said, "Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad and BJP MP Anil Bonde have given wrong statements against Gandhi."
Many Congress leaders, including Mohan Joshi and Sangeeta Tiwari, also participated in the protest, showing their support for Gandhi.
Bonde on Tuesday said Gandhi's "tongue should be singed" as his statement on reservations was "dangerous" and hurt the feelings of the 'bahujan' (non-Brahmin) communities. Earlier, Buldhana MLA Gaikwad had announced a reward for anyone cutting off Gandhi's tongue over the reservation comments.
During a recent visit to the United States, Gandhi said the Congress would think of scrapping reservations when "India is a fair place", which he said is not the case right now.
However, at a press interaction in the US later, Gandhi said he was misquoted to show he was against reservations.
"I have been saying again and again and again, we are going to increase reservations beyond 50 per cent," Gandhi said.
