NEW DELHI (TIP): The Congress- BJP fight over Nehru intensified on Thursday when Sonia Gandhi chose the birthday of the first prime minister to accuse BJP of seeking to destroy his “secular” legacy while son Rahul dismissed Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s ‘Clean India‘ campaign as a mask of respectability for the party’s divisive actions of spreading communal poison. “Houses are being painted and roads are being cleaned but poison is being spread and the very foundations (of the house) are being weakened,” Rahul said.

While he did not name the PM or the BJP and refrained from mentioning the word “communalism”, the implication of his remarks at a function to commemorate Nehru’s 125th birth anniversary, where the attendees took an oath to protect secularism, was obvious. Speaking at the same function, Sonia said, “There are concerted attempts to destroy the vision of Nehru, the way he used to view India. The forces, which are doing this, are targeting not only his persona but also his ideology, his vision, his life-long contributions and struggle.” The double-barreled attack on Modi government came amid a widening confrontation between the government and the BJP over Nehru. Congress has charged Modi with seeking to belittle the contribution of the first prime minister as well as assaulting his ideals of secularism and planned development along socialist lines.