Congress says today's fringe will be BJP's mainstream tomorrow, questions PM Modi's silence on row over remarks on Prophet

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh alleged that India is paying the price for BJP's mistakes over many years and said this is unacceptable

Stepping up attack, the Congress on June 8 accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of promoting its leaders who "spew venom" and questioned the Prime Minister for keeping "silent" even after India faced international condemnation over the remarks of the ruling party's now-sacked spokespersons.

The Opposition party also alleged that yesterday's fringe is today's mainstream in the BJP and "the fringe today will be its mainstream tomorrow".

The Congress also objected to Indian embassies forwarding the statements of the BJP after several Islamic countries condemned the remarks of Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal against the Prophet.

"'Fringe' is BJP's core," former Congress President Rahul Gandhi tweeted and highlighted from the past some reported controversial statements of BJP leaders like Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, Anurag Thakur and Sadhvi Pragya.

In the image tweeted by him, a media report quotes Anurag Thakur as saying, "desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maaro ..." and Sadhvi Pragya's remark on Nathuram Godse is also mentioned.

Mr. Gandhi's remarks came after the Indian Missions in Kuwait and Qatar in their statements dubbed the controversial remarks as those of "fringe elements" after these countries lodged their protest.