‘People who called Osama Ji…’: Jyotiraditya Scindia responds to Digvijaya Singh’s ‘traitor’ remark

A war of words has erupted in Madhya Pradesh after Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia addressed a public meeting at Raghogarh, the home turf of Congress leader Digvijay Singh, who termed the former a “betrayer” for quitting Congress with MLAs and joining BJP.

Hitting back at Congress leader Digvijaya Singh over his ‘traitor’ remark, Scindia said that people who called Osama Bin Laden as “Osama Ji” and promised to restore Article 370 were calling him a traitor.

“I don’t want to fall to that level… Ppl who called Osama as ‘Osama Ji’ & say that they’ll restore Art 370 when they come to power. What he said reflects his mental state. The public will decide as to who is a traitor, who isn’t,” the Union Minister said on Sunday.

Addressing his first rally in Singh’s pocket-borough yesterday, Scindia, without naming his ex-colleague in Congress, said the former was not interested in politics and had no passion for development. During Scindia’s rally, several Congress workers, including the son of a former MLA, joined BJP.

Responding to the hard-hitting remarks, Singh said that Scindia took advantage from the Congress and then joined the BJP. He also said that the Kamal Nath government in MP would have been intact had Scindia not left the Congress.

“Scindia took advantage of Congress and later joined BJP. He also took our MLAs with him by distributing money. History will not forgive traitors. The generations to come will remember the betrayers,” said Singh, who belongs to the Raghogarh royal family, while addressing a rally in Mundela village in the Vidisha district.

“When it comes to the queen of Jhansi, does the name of the Scindia family get mentioned or not (for deceiving)? If he (the then Scindia ruler) had helped Hindu kings in the battle of Panipat, Ahmed Shah Abdali would have lost the battle of Panipat. If Scindia had not betrayed us, the Congress government in MP would have stayed in power even today,” he added.

Speaking at another public meeting in the Guna district, Singh alleged that the MLAs who had left Congress to topple the state government in 2020 had received Rs 25 crore each.

Scindia didn’t name Mr Singh at Raghogarh, which is currently represented by the Congress leader’s son Jaivardhan Singh in the Assembly. During Scindia’s rally, Harendra Singh, son of former Congress MLA Mool Singh, a close confidant of Digvijay Singh, joined BJP along with his supporters.