Why all this secrecy: BJP on Rahul Gandhi’s South America visit

New Delhi: The BJP on Sunday questioned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s visit to South America, where he has been since September 26.

BJP IT cell chief, Amit Malviya, took to social media demanding answers from the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Congress.

In a post on X, Malviya said that Rahul Gandhi left for South America on September 26. “It’s been over 15 days now, and apart from a few staged videos meant to divert attention from the real purpose of his visit, there’s complete silence,” the BJP leader said.

Apart from calling Gandhi’s events staged videos, Malviya raised questions about the rest of his itinerary. “Where exactly is Rahul Gandhi, and what is he doing in South America? Why all this secrecy?” he said.

While accusing the Congress leader of “secrecy” on Sunday, Malviya had lashed out at Rahul Gandhi for “vacationing” abroad, wondering what excuses the “missing” leader would come up with after the Mahagathbandhan’s expected loss in the Bihar Assembly elections next month.

Malviya wrote on his X handle on Saturday, “If Rahul Gandhi is done learning how to brew coffee in Colombia and vacationing, he should return to India. Bihar elections have been announced and polling begins in less than a month. The Mahagathbandhan will lose, again. And, as always, the Congress will blame everyone, except their missing leader!”

The BJP has accused the Congress leader of projecting the country in a bad light and declaring that “India doesn’t want to lead the world”.

Earlier, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey demanded an investigation into Rahul Gandhi’s foreign tours in the past ten years.

The BJP MP on October 7 said that Parliamentarians, including Rahul Gandhi, don’t need any permission from the government while going on study tours.

He further said that during Rajiv Gandhi’s government, two central ministers — Chandulal Chandrakar, Minister of State for rural development, and K. P. Singh Deo, Minister of State for food and civil supplies, as well as M.S. Sanjivi Rao, chairman of the state Electronics Commission, had to resign because they were booked in espionage cases.

Dubey also shared documents on X, which have documentary reference of Deo expressing anguish over his name being mentioned in the charge sheet, along with an accused named Ram Swarup.

Nishikant Dubey, citing this infamous instance, demanded that Rahul Gandhi’s foreign visits be put under the scanner of investigative agencies.

Rahul Gandhi is currently on a tour of four South American nations, meeting a host of students, businessmen, as well as political leaders. In an event at EIA University, Colombia, he accused the BJP-led NDA government of mounting a “wholesale attack on Indian democracy”.

–IANS