Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday held Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah, the BJP and the RSS responsible for whipping up an atmosphere of hatred in the country that led people like Nupur Sharma to make derogatory statements, which drew flak from the Supreme Court.

On a tour to his Lok Sabha constituency Wayanad, Rahul told reporters that the ruling dispensation was responsible for the atmosphere of hate prevailing in the country, alluding to the Supreme Court’s severe criticism of the now-suspended BJP spokesperson.

“Yes, of course the Supreme Court has said this. It’s true. But the atmosphere in the country has been created by the ruling dispensation. It is not the person who has made the comment. It is the Prime Minister, it is the home minister, it is the BJP and the RSS that created this environment in the country. This environment of anger, (and) this environment of hatred,” he said, describing hate-mongering as an “anti-national” act that would lead to a tragedy.

He was talking to reporters after visiting his office in Kalpetta, the district headquarters of Wayanad, which was recently vandalised by cadres of the Students’ Federation of India — the CPM’s campus arm.

“And frankly, the creation of this environment in the country is an anti-national act. This is against the interest of India, it is against the interest of the people of India and it is completely wrong. And it is going to lead to tragedy,” he said.

He said the Congress party was all for building bridges and not dividing people. “As the Cong party, we build bridges between people, we build bridges between communities, we bring people together.”

“What we are seeing in the country, (and) what is being done in the country by the RSS and the BJP, and the violence you see here (in Kalpetta, where his office was vandalised), is completely against our philosophy. We don’t believe in solving problems with hatred and anger,” he added.

In New Delhi, the Congress said the Modi government should hang its head in shame. Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh said: “These remarks by the Supreme Court, which resonate with the entire country, should make the party in power hang its head in shame.”

Ramesh said: “The Supreme Court has held a mirror to this government and called out the base ugliness of its actions. It is no secret that the BJP seeks to profit from inflaming communal passions. Today, the Supreme Court has strengthened the resolve in every single one of us who are fighting these destructively divisive ideologies. The Indian National Congress will never cease its fight against polarising anti-national forces of all types which plunge the nation into chaos for political gains and let all Indian citizens bear the consequences of their perverse actions.”

Arguing that the observations will have far-reaching consequences, Ramesh said: “The court has very rightly called out the BJP spokesperson for being ‘single-handedly responsible for igniting emotions across the country’, and that she should apologise to the entire nation. The Supreme Court reportedly even observed that her outburst is responsible for what the court called, ‘the unfortunate incident in Udaipur’. The Bench also called her out for her arrogant, obstinate conduct and the perfunctory nature of her apology. Notably, the SC asked her counsel if she faces threat, or she has given a (security) threat to the nation?”

Ramesh also brought up the court’s observation on deferential treatment being meted out to the BJP spokesperson by the police.

Additional reporting by Our Special Correspondent in New Delhi