New Delhi, August 23: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday blamed demonetisation, GST and unemployment for violence and lynchings in India. Gandhi, who is on a four-day tour of the United Kingdom and Germany, gave an example of the Islamic State (ISIS) terror outfit trying to justify what he was saying.

"It's very dangerous in the 21st century to exclude people. If you don't give people a vision in the 21st century, somebody else will give them one and that may not be good for you and the world," Gandhi said in his address in Hamburg, Germany. Gandhi said the BJP government has excluded tribals, Dalits and minorities from the development narrative and "this could be a dangerous thing".

Gandhi said the incidents of lynching were a result of the anger emanating from joblessness and destruction of small businesses due to demonetisation and poorly implemented Goods and Services Tax.

Video of Rahul Gandhi's address in Hamburg

During his address, Gandhi said that after the US attacked Iraq in 2003, they brought a law that stopped a particular tribe in Iraq from getting jobs in the government and in the army. "It seemed like a very innocuous decision at that time," he said. But it resulted in a large number of people joining insurgency "that fought the US and caused massive casualties," he said.

"It didn't end there. 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," Gandhi said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attacked the Congress President over his addressing saying that his "ISIS analogy sets a dangerous precedent. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra tweeted, "Horrified to hear Congress President Rahul Gandhi justifying the formation of ISIS in Syria and giving out a veiled threat that if Modiji doesn’t 'give vision' to India then soon someone else(read ISIS) would give the vision. Unbelievable. He’s a PM aspirant?"

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 23, 2018 11:35 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).