New Delhi

The BJP on Tuesday alleged that a group of JNU students gave a "direct death threat" to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah raising slogans against them on the university campus at the behest of the Congress and its Left-leaning "tukde-tukde" eco-system.

BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla alleged that giving such threats to Prime Minister Modi and hurling abuses at him has become a "norm" for the Congress.

"They say that they are saviours of the Constitution and they are running 'mohabbat ki dukan (shop of love)' but they are actually 'nafrat ke bhaijaan (brothers of hatred)'. And, for their vote bank ki dukan (shop of vote bank), they support this kind of hate-filled 'juban (language)'," he told PTI when asked about the JNU incidents.

"As many as 150 death threats and abuses have been given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by the Congress on various occasions," he charged.

According to a purported video of the protest, a group of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students raised 'kabra khudegi' slogans against the prime minister and the Union home minister condemning them during a protest inside the varsity campus after the Supreme Court denied bail to activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the 2020 riots conspiracy case.

Reacting sharply to the controversial sloganeering, Poonwalla said, "The slogans that were raised in JNU by the Left-Congress ecosystem students were a direct death threat to Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah."

He alleged "this 'tukde-tukde' eco system" resorted to passing death threats to the prime minister and the home minister just because Imam and Khalid did not get any relief from the court.

"It was not a coincidence," Poonawalla said.

"It's because of the manner in which it was defended by Congress leaders like Udit Raj, who said that it was out of frustration and resentment from the Supreme Court verdict on Sharjeel Imam and Umar Khalid that such slogans were raised. They also defended it by saying that it was free speech," he charged.

Senior BJP leader and Union minister Piyush Goyal said every time "these people" belonging to the opposition INDIA bloc made such personal remarks against Prime Minister Modi, they had to face the consequences.

"I am fully confident that people of India do not get scared by such remarks and threats. They will give a befitting reply to the people who have such an anti-Hindutva mindset," he told reporters.

Goyal was responding to a media query as to whether the controversial slogans raised against Modi and Shah on the JNU campus were an indication that attempts are being made to build an anti-Hindu and anti-BJP movement in the country.

Another BJP national spokesperson, Pradeep Bhandari, alleged that raising such slogans by the JNU students on the varsity campus reflected the "urban-naxal thinking", which, he alleged, is "supported" by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and his party.

"That's why Rahul Gandhi is seen as the poster boy of the anti-nationals," he charged.

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Bhandari alleged that the Congress leaders came out in support of Imam and Khaild on Monday after the court rejected their bail plea in the Delhi riots conspiracy case.

"And, now the kind of slogans that have been raised in the JNU, it is being supported by the Congress leaders," he charged.