Congress has problems with: Air Force modernisation. Indian customs and traditions. For a Party used to worship… https://t.co/wy8emvjlSq — BJP (@BJP4India) 1570614670000

NEW DELHI: The BJP on Wednesday slammed the Congress for criticising defence minister Rajnath Singh's Shastra Puja while accepting the Rafale fighter aircraft in France. The BJP accused the Congress of opposing the modernisation of the Air Force and making fun of Indian customs and traditions."For a Party used to worshiping Quattrocchi, ' Shastra Puja ' is naturally a problem," the BJP said in a dig at the Congress after senior opposition leader Mallikarjun Kharge called the event a "tamasha"."There is no need to do such 'tamasha' (drama). When we bought weapons-like the Bofors gun, no one went and brought them while showing off," Kharge said when asked about the Shastra Puja.Rajnath Singh had performed Shastra Puja (worship of weapons) on the auspicious occasion of Dussehra after receiving the first of the 36 Rafale jets in the French port city of Bordeaux on Tuesday.Congress leader Rashid Alvi also called the event a drama."I want to say that this is a government of dramatics. You are going to France and performing puja, wasn't the Rafale jet coming to India? You are going to a foreign country and doing all this drama.""The question is does the Narendra Modi government and the BJP consider Atal (Bihari Vajpayee) ji its leader or not. If it considers him their leader, then he was the Prime Minister for six years, but did he do any such drama going to France," Alvi said.The BJP reacted strongly to these remarks and its attack was led by party president Amit Shah, who asked the Congress to think about "what they should oppose and what not.""Defence Minister Rajnath Singh performed 'Shashtra Puja' of Rafale yesterday in France. But Congress leaders are opposing even this. Is 'Shashtra Puja' not performed on Vijayadashami?" Amit Shah said.Shah said that 'Shashtra Puja' is done on Vijayadashami which symbolises victory of good over evil.Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi also slammed Kharge and accused the Congress of forgetting Indian traditions."The urge to play politics in everything has pushed Congress leaders far away from our culture and traditions," Naqvi said.Taking a dig at Kharge, the BJP wrote on its Twitter handle, "Kharge Ji, thank you for reminding us about the Bofors Scam."Kharge was also attacked by his party leader Sanjay Nirupam who said: "Shastra puja cannot be called a 'tamasha'. There has been an old tradition of 'Shastra puja' in our country. The problem is that KhargeJi is an atheist. In the Congress party, not everyone is an atheist."(With inputs from agencies)