NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday firmly dismissed the Congress’ sensational allegation that foreign intelligence agencies were involved in the party’s 2014 Lok Sabha triumph. The BJP underlined that its victories come solely from the trust and support of Indian voters, not from the CIA or Mossad.
The rebuttal came after senior Congress leader Kumar Ketkar, speaking at a Constitution Day programme in Mumbai, claimed that the United States’ CIA and Israel’s Mossad had engineered the Congress’ defeat in the 2014 general elections. His remarks quickly triggered a sharp political exchange.
Responding to Ketkar’s statement, BJP spokesperson and MP Sambit Patra ridiculed the claim and said the Congress was trying to hide its failures behind far-fetched conspiracy theories. Patra stressed that ordinary citizens, particularly those who benefited from welfare schemes, were the real force behind the BJP’s electoral success.
“No foreign agency brings the BJP to power. It is the people of India who do so,” Patra asserted. “Those who received Ujjwala gas connections, those who got homes under government schemes, farmers, women, youngsters — they are the ones who choose the BJP.”
Patra further escalated his criticism by alleging that the Congress lost ground in 2014 because it aligned itself, knowingly or unknowingly, with the narratives pushed by Pakistan’s ISI. He argued that positions taken by the Congress on issues like the Ram temple and Babri Masjid only distanced voters.
“If you walk in step with the ISI’s agenda, talk about rebuilding the Babri structure, oppose the Ram temple — how can the Congress expect to grow?” he questioned at a press briefing at the BJP headquarters.
Taking a dig at the Congress’ recent poor electoral outcome in Bihar, Patra said the opposition party had already shrunk to just six seats and warned that its political footprint could diminish even further. “Right now they can still move around in an auto-rickshaw,” he remarked sarcastically, “but at this pace, they may soon be unable to afford even a scooty.”
With both parties trading sharp barbs, the controversy added another layer to the ongoing political sparring ahead of future election cycles.
