Cong strongly condemns BJP's remarks on Ansari, Sonia

The Congress on Wednesday strongly condemned the 'insinuations and innuendos' by the Bharatiya Janata Party against party chief Sonia Gandhi and former vice president Hamid Ansari, saying it amounts to character assassination of the worst form.

The opposition party was reacting after BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia asked Ansari and the Congress to come clean on the claims of Pakistani journalist Nusrat Mirza that he had visited India five times during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance rule and passed on sensitive information collected here to his country's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence.

Ansari, who was India's vice president during 2007-17, refuted the charge, saying a 'litany of falsehood' has been unleashed against him in sections of media and by a BJP spokesperson.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a statement that the level that the prime minister and his party colleagues will 'stoop to debase public debate is staggering'.

He said the 'insinuations and innuendos by a spokesperson of the BJP against Sonia Gandhi and Hamid Ansari, are character assassination of the worst form' and are to be condemned 'in the strongest possible language'.

Bhatia had cited Mirza's purported comments that he had visited India on Ansari's invitation.

Clips of Mirza's interviews doing the rounds on social media suggest that he attended a seminar on terrorism in India in which Ansari spoke.

The Congress said that facts regarding the International Conference of Jurists on International Terrorism and Human Rights held on December 11, 2010 in New Delhi are already in the public domain and accused the ruling party of spreading lies.

"The levels that the prime minister and his party colleagues will stoop to debase public debate and spread their patented brand of lies is staggering. It reflects sickness of mind and lack of any form of integrity whatsoever," Ramesh alleged.

At a press conference, Bhatia said, "People of India are giving you so much respect and you are betraying the country. Isn't this treason? Sonia Gandhi, Rahul and Hamid Ansari should come out and reply to this."

If Congress leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi besides the then vice president remain silent on the questions raised by the ruling party, it will amount to their admission to these 'sins', Bhatia told reporters.