New Delhi: The BJP has seized upon a speech by Rahul Gandhi in Hamburg to draw three red lines on what amounts to insulting India.

Islamic State: Rahul, an alumnus of the Bucerius Summer School in Hamburg, told the school on Wednesday: "It is very dangerous in the 21st century to exclude people." He referred to a "departification" (banning those who were earlier in power from holding important posts) order by the US in Iraq "which stopped a particular tribe from government jobs and jobs in the army.... It resulted in a large number of people joining insurgency.... That insurgence slowly entered empty spaces. It entered the empty space in Iraq and in Syria and then it connected with... a horrific idea called ISIS.... If you don't give people a vision in the 21st century, somebody else will give them one and that is the real risk of excluding large numbers of people...."

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra on Thursday: Rahul was justifying the Islamic State's formation in Syria and "giving out a veiled threat that if Modiji doesn't give vision to India then soon someone else (the Islamic State) would give the vision".

Dalit attacks: Rahul said that "they have started attacking the support structures that were designed to help certain groups of people. Very recently, a law that protected the Dalit community from violence was scratched down."

Patra: Rahul's speech was full of lies and deception and its sole aim was to insult India.... He should apologise.

(It was a Supreme Court verdict that had diluted the act, and Parliament had - belatedly, according to critics - reversed the judgment.)

Violence against women: "I would disagree with the idea that India is the most unsafe place for women. But I would agree with the idea that the treatment of women leaves a lot to be desired.... At the end of it, it is a cultural issue as well. It is literally the way the Indian male views the woman. He has to start viewing her as an equal. He has to start viewing her with respect. He has to start treating her with respect. And I am sorry to say, he doesn't," Rahul said.

Patra: "Wasn't this the Indian culture which helped her (Sonia Gandhi) reach the top? Rahul and Sonia Gandhi should come out and explain as to how they can point fingers at this great Indian culture."

Footnote: Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha, who left the BJP a few months ago, tweeted: "I appeal to all leaders to refrain from discussing our internal issues abroad. PM broke this rule first. Others need not follow his example."