BJP president Nitin Nabin on Friday, November 6, questioned Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi's 'silence' over Jharkhand minister Irfan Ansari's remarks about student and youth protests, asking whether the silence reflected his 'tacit approval'.

Source: IANS via hi INDiA

In a post on X, Nabin wrote: 'Rahul Gandhi ji, in Jharkhand, ministers from your party are openly saying that Congress, at your direction, is prepared to create instability in the country and push India into the flames of anarchy.' He asked: 'Is the script to spread instability and anarchy in the country being written at your behest? Is the remote control of this entire conspiracy in your hands?' — the BJP's characterisation of the remarks, which the Congress had not formally answered by Friday evening, Mirror Now reported.

Source: Mirror Now

What the minister said

Ansari, the Congress health minister in Jharkhand and MLA from Jamtara, claimed during an interaction in Delhi on Thursday that 40 lakh young people were ready to take to the streets and were waiting for a signal from Rahul Gandhi, who had so far held them back. He alleged that farmers, workers, the middle class, Dalits, tribals and Muslims were facing difficulties under the BJP-led government, and warned that if Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not take note, the country could witness developments worse than those in Bangladesh and Nepal.

40 lakhYouth Ansari claimed are awaiting Rahul Gandhi's signal
2Days of BJP escalation — spokesperson attack Thu, president's post Fri

The BJP had opened its attack on Thursday itself: spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari said the claim that 40 lakh youth were waiting for one call from Rahul Gandhi was 'a clear manifestation of the Congress party's anarchic politics', and that Ansari's comments exposed what he called Rahul Gandhi's conspiracy for spreading anarchy — allegations the BJP levelled, not findings by any authority.

Protests and a police complaint in Jharkhand

In Jharkhand, the row moved to the streets on Friday. BJP workers burned effigies of Rahul Gandhi at district headquarters across the state, and in Ranchi the state BJP president Varun Sahu led a march at DPS Chowk, Town Post reported. The party has also filed a written complaint at Ranchi's Argora police station over Ansari's remarks, seeking an FIR against the minister under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

Source: Town Post

Ansari's remarks themselves, and the BJP's reading of them as a call to instability, remain contested political claims: no authority has ruled on them, and the Congress response — to Nabin's questions and to the complaint — was still awaited at the time of reporting.