New Delhi: Responding to Sonia Gandhi's emotional outburst where she declared that no one can take away her citizenship, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cutting remark about her Italian origins, Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has questioned Congress supremo's passionate declaration asking who was trying to take her citizenship away.
Speaking to ANI, Swamy said that her statement was completely unaccounted for and that she should have used words befitting her senior title.
Asserting that 'escapism' was Sonia's forte, he added that she had absolutely no credibility and also has a long history of running away from India when faced with problems.
"In 1971 she ran away during the Bangladesh war with her children, then in 1977 she hid in the Italian embassy, in 1991 she put all her jewellery and precious belonging into a trunk put it on a plane to Singapore and deposited there. She has a history of running away when facing a crisis," Swamy said.
"She is a coward by nature, so such strong words do not befit her. Why is she making such statements now? Who is taking away her citizenship? Whether she stays in ten janpath or tihar jail I can't say. But the fact remains that no one is driving her away from this country," Swamy added.
Slamming PM Modi's Sunday jibe regarding her Italy connections, Sonia said, "I also know PM Modi will never understand my integrity and him and RSS will always abuse me and stoop low to attack me. Yes, I was born in Italy and have a family there. I have a 93-year-old mother and I am not ashamed of it. I came to India in 1968 as the daughter-in-law of Indira Gandhi."
"It is here in my country, India, that the blood of my loved ones is mingled. It is here that I will breathe my last and it is here my ashes will mingle with those of my loved ones," Sonia said at the end of her speech.
Saying that Prime Minister Modi can sink to whichever depths he wishes to challenge her integrity, Gandhi added, "He cannot take the truth away from my commitment and my love for India, my country. I cannot expect Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, to understand these feelings, but I know and I am sure that you will."
On Sunday, while addressing an election rally in Thiruvananthapuram, PM Modi had launched a blistering attack on Congress and Sonia over the AgustaWestland scandal and had demanded that the names of those who took kickbacks in the chopper deal be made public and the culprits punished.
“Everyone knows who has relatives in Italy,” PM Modi had said at Kerala rally, adding the Italian high court had released the names.
