Party spokesperson Pawan Khera also said the Sanchar Sathi mobile application represents the government’s latest attempt to intrude into private lives of the citizens
NEW DELHI — The Congress has severely criticised Defence Minister Rajnath Singh for claiming that Jawaharlal Nehru intended to use public funds to “rebuild” the Babri Masjid and that then Home Minister Sardar Patel had stopped him from doing it.
The home minister made the statement in a speech in the Sadhli village of Gujarat’s Vadodara District on Tuesday. on Tuesday. “When Pandit Nehru raised the issue of spending money from the government treasury on the Babri Masjid, if anyone opposed this, it was Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, born of a Gujarati mother. And at that time, he did not allow the Babri Masjid to be built with government funds,” he said.
The Congress called the assertion “historically impossible” and accused Singh of peddling politically motivated distortions around the mosque demolished by Hindutva groups on December 6, 1992, in the presence of senior BJP leaders including LK Advani, MM Joshi, Uma Bharti and others.
Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters, Congress spokesperson and Media and Publicity Department Chairperson Pawan Khera said Singh’s remarks demonstrated “how far the BJP is willing to stretch facts for political convenience.”
Responding to queries on Singh’s remarks, Khera said: “Rajnath Ji was never like this. When others say laughable things, we let it pass. But when the Defence Minister of India makes such claims, we must ask—where is the evidence? What imaginary narrative has he come to sell?”
Calling the claim chronologically absurd, Khera remarked: “The Babri Masjid was built around 1528. Sardar Patel died in 1950. Nehru lived another 14 years after that. Did he build the Babri Masjid then? How could Patel have stopped him? The claim makes no historical sense.”
He added that while BJP leaders make unsubstantiated claims about Nehru and the Babri Masjid, “an 800-year-old temple in Jhandewalan in Delhi was recently demolished to create parking for the RSS headquarters—and we have evidence for that.”
Khera urged Rajnath Singh not to follow Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s path, alleging that the was already causing “irreparable damage” to the BJP. “If the rest of the party follows him, it only benefits us,” he said.
Notably, Khera avoided pointing out that the Babri Masjid—until its demolition by Hindutva groups in 1992—was structurally intact and required no “rebuilding.” Even the Supreme Court, in its 2019 judgment, held that the demolition was a criminal act. Yet, despite this finding, the court handed over the site of the razed mosque to those who brought it down.
Rajnath Singh’s statement came ahead of Babri Masjid demolition’s 34th anniversary which falls on December 6.
‘Optional App’ Defence rejected
On the Sanchar Sathi mobile application, Khera dismissed Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia’s claim that the app was optional, calling it a “verbal assurance with no official backing.”
He said the app represented the government’s latest attempt to intrude into private lives of the citizens. “What Pegasus was for VIPs, Sanchar Sathi is for common Indians,” he asserted, alleging the app would allow the government to replicate and monitor people’s conversations, data and photographs.
Khera said the app reflected Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah’s “long-standing habit of snooping,” stretching back to their Gujarat years.
He questioned why safety could not be ensured without invading privacy and asked whether any stakeholder consultations preceded the move, which potentially impacts 80 crore digital users.
Raising concerns about misuse, he cited the planting of evidence in the Bhima Koregaon case. “Google does not intimidate people. The government can,” he remarked.
Calling the app an “authoritarian overreach,” he demanded its immediate withdrawal. “The people of India will not allow their privacy and autonomy to be sacrificed in the name of governance,” he said.
A Putin Quip
Asked if the timing of these measures was linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s upcoming visit, Khera responded with a jibe: “Tell him not to bring his mobile phone. Otherwise, it’ll be ‘ghar-ghar Modi’ here and ‘ghar-ghar Modi’ there too.”
