Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hit back at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his "Prime Minister of RSS lies to mother India" comment, calling him the "chieftain of liars" and accused the Congress of spreading misinformation on the construction of detention centres.
Earlier today, Gandhi tweeted a video which shows a road in Assam's Matia leading to a purported detention centre, and a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech wherein he said that rumours of detention centres raised by Congress and urban Naxals were a "lie". "The Prime Minister of RSS lies to Bharat Mata," he captioned the post with the hashtag lies, lies, lies.
Speaking at a press conference here, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said that Gandhi was wrong in calling the Prime Minister a 'liar'.
Seeking to clarify Modi's comments, Patra said: "He said that no detention centre has been made to detain any Indian Muslims under NRC under the BJP government rule. What is the lie in it?"
"Rahul Gandhi is spreading lies regarding detention centres. He and his Congress party have been spreading rumours that Muslims will be detained and deported. This is a pure lie," he said.
Calling Gandhi, a former Congress president, a chieftain of liers, the BJP leader said that three detention centres were constructed in Assam on directions of the previous Congress-led UPA government at the Centre.
Patra showed a Home Ministry reply in Parliament in 2011, in which it said that detention centres were constructed in Assam's Golpara, Kokrajhar, and Silchar. "The then Congress government said that 362 people were kept in these centres," he said.
Continuing his attack on Gandhi, he said: "I want to ask the chieftain of liars -- will you apologize to the country? Rahul Gandhi Ji has no knowledge of any subject but speaks on everything."
"There is no connection between setting up detention centres and NRC. A detention centre is for foreigners who are in India illegally and to ensure they do not vsh. This is just a confinement centre to control his/her movement," he clarified.
Speaking at a rally on Sunday, the Prime Minister blamed the Congress and "urban Naxals" for spreading rumours that all Muslims would be sent to detention centres.
"Respect your education, read what the Citizenship Amendment Act and NRC are. You are educated. The Muslims of the Indian soil, whose forefathers are the sons of India, have nothing to be bothered about by either the NRC or the CAA. Neither is there any detention centre in India nor will any Indian Muslim be sent to it," Modi said.
( With inputs from ANI )