‘Owning land not a crime’: Kerala BJP chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar slams Rahul Gandhi over allegations of targeting Catholic Churches | Kochi News
NEW DELHI: Kerala BJP President Rajeev Chandrasekhar strongly criticized Rahul Gandhi and Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan for their claims that the central government is targeting Catholic Church land following the Waqf Amendment Bill‘s passage in Parliament.
The exchange occurred after Gandhi and Vijayan expressed concerns about potential threats to minority communities’ properties.
Chandrasekhar responded to Gandhi’s allegations by questioning his understanding of the Constitution on social media platform X.
“One thing I recommend to Constitution-waving, India-bashing Rahul Gandhi is that he reads and learns the constitution before he uses it for his Congress politics of lies,” Chandrasekhar stated.
He further explained his stance on land ownership, distinguishing between legitimate ownership and illegal acquisition.
“Owning land is not a crime just as vast amounts of land is owned by Railways, Army, Plantation owners etc. However, grabbing it from people as Cong leaders in Karnataka do and Waqf tried to do is wrong,” Chandrasekhar wrote on X.
Chandrasekhar defended the Waqf Amendment Act while criticizing Congress’s original Waqf Act.
“Indian Constitution is a sacred document, that enshrines rights of Indian including every Indians right to property. The Waqf act passed by Cong, trampled on those rights of all Indians because of the shameless appeasement politics PM Narendra Modi jis Waqf amendment act, restores the rights of property and appeal to ALL Indians AND ensures that Waqf land is used for the benefit of poor Muslims not rich Cong builder/politicians,” he explained.
Chandrasekhar also targeted Kerala CM Vijayan’s support of Gandhi’s claims.
“It takes a lot of political hubris for a CM – who has wrecked the states economy, put youth at the mercy of drugs and record joblessness and has been caught with a govt invested company shovelling money to his daughters ‘IT’ company – to jump on Rahuls bandwagon to poison hearts and minds of people of Kerala. But it will not work,” he posted.
Rahul Gandhi had earlier expressed concerns about the implications of the Waqf Amendment Bill.
“I had said that the Waqf Bill attacks Muslims now but sets a precedent to target other communities in the future. It didn’t take long for the RSS to turn its attention to Christians,” Gandhi stated, referencing an article in The Telegraph about the Organizer’s content.
Chief minister Vijayan shared similar concerns about an article in the RSS publication “Organizer” regarding Church property.
“It should be understood from the article in the RSS mouthpiece Organizer that the Sangh Parivar is targeting the Catholic Church after the passage of the Waqf Act Amendment Bill in Parliament, which violates the constitutional rights of Muslim minorities,” Vijayan remarked.
The controversy emerged after the publication of an article about Church property in the RSS’s “Organizer” magazine, which was later removed from their website. Vijayan noted that despite the article’s removal, it revealed the “true mindset” of the RSS and sent “negative signals” to the community.
