BJP slams Kharge over ‘illiterate’ remark, seeks apology
The BJP on Tuesday demanded an apology from Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge for his alleged remarks about the people of Gujarat and some other States, saying that the comment was “shameless, demeaning and utterly despicable.”
The ruling party also condemned Kharge’s alleged remarks comparing the RSS and the BJP to “poisonous snakes,” terming them “deeply objectionable” and beyond the limits of acceptable political discourse.
Addressing a press conference, BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad asked Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to clarify whether they agreed with Kharge’s statement.
At an election rally in Kerala’s Idukki district on Sunday, Kharge said the people of the State were “educated and clever” and cannot be misled, unlike those who were “illiterate” in Gujarat and some other places.
“Do they agree with this statement? If Rahul Gandhi has any sense, he should distance himself from this remark, condemn it, and demand an apology,” Prasad said.
The former Union minister said Kharge “does not deserve to remain Congress president” for making such comments, and questioned if he had “abandoned all sense of dignity.”
“The position he holds was once occupied by leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Maulana Azad, Sonia Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, and even Rahul Gandhi. What kind of language is being used by someone holding such a post? Kharge’s comment is not only demeaning, but shameless and utterly despicable,” he said.
“What does it mean when the president of a national party calls an entire state’s people illiterate? I want to pose a serious question to the party’s national platform,” he added.
Prasad said Gujarat has produced several national leaders and intellectuals, and its literacy rate has improved over the years to around 82 per cent.
“Kharge said Gujaratis are illiterate and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has misled them to stay in power, while people of Kerala are educated. Will you say anything without thinking because you hate the prime minister!” said the MP from Patna Sahib.
He demanded that the Congress president apologise to the people of Gujarat, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
“Kharge, you owe an apology to the country. On behalf of the BJP, we demand that you apologise for calling the people of Gujarat illiterate,” he said, terming Kahrge’s alleged remarks “divisive” and unbecoming of his post.
On Kharge’s comment against the BJP and the RSS, Prasad said his comments are an attempt to malign “patriotic organisations.”
“He has made a very offensive statement,” Prasad said.
“You have blatantly and unabashedly tried to stoke communal fire by pandering to the ugly religious sentiments of the Muslim community. By suggesting that people should leave namaz and ‘kill’ like dealing with a snake, can there be anything more shameful or distasteful than this?” he added.
During a poll campaign in Assam on Monday, Kharge reportedly, citing the Quran, said that if a poisonous snake is passing in front of you, even if you are offering namaz, you should leave the namaz and kill that poisonous snake.
“The RSS and the BJP are poisonous snakes,” Kharge allegedly said.
Prasad, who describes himself as an RSS volunteer, asserted that despite decades of criticism by the Congress leadership, the organisation has continued to expand its presence and influence.
“Rahul Gandhi, your father, your mother, your grandmother, and your great-grandfather have all been criticising the RSS since they came to power. They kept criticising it again and again. Yet, see where the RSS has reached today.
“A large number of its volunteers are sitting in Parliament. Look at where you stand today. Even the prime minister of the country is a volunteer,” Prasad said.
The former minister said the comments will only hasten the downfall of the Congress.
“The Congress party will sink. It will face a severe defeat. If its national president makes such statements, whatever little future the Congress party has left will also be finished.
He said the remarks crossed “all limits of propriety” and are not in line with conventional political criticism.
“Such words are not used even by the Left parties that are strongly anti-RSS. Even Maoists do not use such language. I don’t know what kind of ‘great personality’ Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have made the national president,” Prasad said.
