NEW DELHI: The BJP on Thursday hit out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi and accused him of "belittling" India during his address at an event in Germany .

The BJP criticised Rahul Gandhi for connecting terrorism with joblessness and said the Congress leader should not have used a foreign tour to put India in a bad light.

Addressing a gathering at the Bucerius Summer School in Hamburg on Wednesday, Gandhi had cited the example of Islamic State to say that exclusion of a large number of people from the development process could lead to the creation of terrorist groups in the world.

The Congress president then accused the BJP government of excluding tribals, Dalits and minorities from the development narrative.

Slamming Rahul Gandhi, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, "There cannot be anything more frightening and worrying than this."

The BJP spokesperson said Gandhi's submission was that minorities in India would "sell their soul" to IS if jobs are not available for them, and this amounted to "denigrating" the community.

Gandhi has a poor opinion of India, he said, adding the Congress chief harped on about China even though, he claimed, India had become one of the leading countries in the world under the Modi government.

"His speech was full of lies and deception," Patra alleged, wondering if the figures Gandhi cited of China producing 50 jobs every 24 hours compared to 44 in India, were "made in 10 Janpath".

However, Congress defended its president and said that the BJP has not learnt anything from the teachings of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Slamming the BJP, Congress leader RPN Singh said that Rahul Gandhi was responding to a question about unemployment at the event in Germany.

During his speech, Rahul Gandhi also said there is “something much more dangerous” that has happened, and that is – a couple of years ago the prime minister “demonetised the Indian economy and destroyed cash flows to small and medium businesses, rendering millions jobless”.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday left for a four-day tour of the UK and Germany, where he is likely to hold interactions with the Indian diaspora and foreign dignitaries.

(With agency inputs)



In Video: BJP attacks Rahul over ISIS comment in Hamburg, Germany