The BJP on Wednesday lashed out at Congress MP Mallikarjun Kharge for his “…Muharram mein naachenge” remarks, saying it is not a celebration but a mourning.
“Firstly, Muharram is not a celebration but a mourning! This is highly insulting to Muslims,” BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said in a video statement. “Mallikarjun Kharge, the proxy presidential candidate of the ‘pratham parivaar’ of the Congress party who will be the next remote-controlled president of the Congress in what is being conducted as a farcical exercise of an election when asked about the 2024 prime ministerial candidate of the Congress, said ‘Bakri Eid mein bachenge toh Muharram mein nachenge’. This statement is a highly objectionable statement. Muslims across the globe do not celebrate Muharram. It is not a month of celebrations.
“It is a month of sorrow and a month of mourning. Therefore, to say that there will be naach-ganaa in Muharram is extremely objectionable,” Poonawalla said in a video statement.
“But more importantly is the importance of this politically loaded statement for Rahul Gandhi and the truth that Kharge himself has disclosed about the position of the Congress party which is getting extinct State after State,” he added.
appearing to point at the electoral debacle the Congress has been facing since 2014.
Kharge, who was facing the media in Bhopal, was asked whether the grand old party would field him or Rahul Gandhi as its prime ministerial face in 2024. To this Kharge said, “There is a saying "Bakrid mein bachenge toh Muharram mein nachenge". First, let these elections get over and let me become president, and then we'll see.
The Rajya Sabha MP will run against party colleague Shashi Tharoor in the election to choose the Congress’s next chief. The poll is scheduled for October 17.