Nowadays, it has become a custom to criticise the BJP for everything.
I find it quite unusual for people to criticise me for doing what I consider to be my duty.
Labour Party members must all be free to criticise and oppose injustice and abuse wherever we find it.
I have my style of play and people can criticise me for that which is not a problem.
Although BJP and Congress are two sides of same coin, BJP is far more communal. Since BJP came to power, there is an atmosphere of hatred, and there is a takeover of the democratic institutions.
I know people will criticise when you play bad; that is part of this job, and I am fine with that. That is not a problem. The problem is the insults. That is what hurts the most.
When I was in the PMO, Digvijaya Singh used to call me whenever he wanted to see the PM. He used to go through me. He is under compulsion to criticise me, but I am under no compulsion to criticise him.
The duty of an Opposition is to oppose.
Unlike the Congress or the BJP leaders, who are away from people, I am not. I mix with people, and I know how they feel. That gives me an edge over the Congress and the BJP.
To criticise a person for their race is a manifestly irrational and ridiculous. But to criticise their religion - that is a right. That is a freedom.
Everything Neymar does turns into news. If he gets emotional, they criticise. If he colours his hair, they criticise.
Just because I have joined the BJP does not mean that I am an active BJP member.
How can BJP be anti-Bangla when BJP founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee himself was a Bengali?
I only did my duty to my country when I tried to oppose the criminal folly of Hitler.
Of course we as Labour Party members must all be free to criticise and oppose injustice and abuse wherever we find it. But as today's Report recommends, can we please leave Hitler and Nazi metaphors alone (especially in the context of Israel). Why? Because the Shoah is still in people's family experience.
I have an ideological umbilical cord with the BJP... we are three-generation party supporters... my grandfather was a swayamsevak, my mother, a BJP booth activist.