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Kharge likens Modi to snake, BJP mounts attack on Congress
A comment by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge apparently likening Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a snake sparked a controversy on Thursday.
A comment by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge apparently likening Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a snake sparked a controversy on Thursday with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accusing him of abusing the PM, and the opposition party saying the remark was aimed at the ruling party’s ideology, not an individual.
The Congress chief was campaigning at Ron town in the Gadag district of poll-bound Karnataka on Thursday when he said, “Don’t make a mistake. Modi is like a venomous snake. If you say, no, it’s not poisonous, let’s lick it and find out, don’t go to lick it. If you lick, you die.”
The comments sparked a political storm with the BJP saying that saying the Congress was a habitual offender in abusing the PM and that the remark reflected its hate.
“President of @INCIndia Shri. Mallikarjun Kharge says, ‘Modi is like a poisonous snake.’ Shocking that Kharge ji, also the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha speaks so about the @PMOIndia. He is now trying to wriggle out. Hate is what is coming out. Kharge ji should apologise,” finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman tweeted.
Facing mounting criticism, Kharge appeared to backtrack later in the day and said his intention was not to hurt anyone’s feelings and that he was referring to the BJP and the party’s ideology in his remarks.
“Our fight with PM Modi is not a personal fight. It is an ideological battle. My intention was not to hurt anyone’s feelings and if knowingly or unknowingly someone’s feelings were hurt, then it was never my intention,” Kharge tweeted.
Karnataka goes to the polls on May 10 and the Congress is hoping to dislodge the BJP.
The BJP hit out at Kharge, who took over as Congress president last year.
Union minister Anurag Thakur said Kharge made the remarks because no one accepted him as the party chief. “Congress made Mallikarjun Kharge the party president but nobody considers him that, so he thought of giving a statement which is worse than that given by Sonia Gandhi. Congress should apologise to the nation,” he said.
Thakur was referring to Sonia Gandhi’s “maut ka saudagar” (merchant of death) remark on Modi in the run up to the 2007 Gujarat elections.
Union minister for state home affairs Nityanand Rai said: “First, Rahul Gandhi spoke derogatory words for the backward society. Now, Mallikarjun Kharge has used objectionable and indecent language like ‘poisonous snake’ for the honorable PM. Kharge ji, Congress party have sown poison. The poison of division in the society, the poison of partition of the country, the poison of corruption in governance, the poison of dynasty in politics - all these are the poisons sown by the Congress.”
Rai was referring to Rahul Gandhi’s remarks on the Modi surname for which he was recently convicted and sentenced to two years in prison, losing his Lok Sabha seat in the process.
Union minister Smriti Irani said: “Kharge’s statement is a reflection of what the Gandhi family feels about the Prime Minister. He gave a clarification, saying he was attacking BJP’s ideology. BJP’s ideology is nation first. So is he saying he was not attacking PM Modi, rather he was attacking India?”
But the Congress defended itself.
“The BJP cannot digest that a person born in a Dalit family in Karnataka has risen from the post of a block president to the post of the party president. Can the BJP dare to appoint a Dalit as its president? Is this the same Prime Minister who has disrespected women on so many occasions and made fun of serious issues like suicides? Has he ever apologised to anyone?” party general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala said.
During a public meeting in Gadag, Kharge clarified his earlier comment and he never meant to target Modi and instead said that the BJP’s ideology was like a snake.
“BJP’s ideology is divisive, disharmonious, full of hatred and prejudice towards the poor and Dalits. I discussed this politics of hatred and malice. My statement was neither for PM Modi personally nor for any other person, but for the ideology he represents,” Kharge tweeted.
The Congress leader also said that his party was engaged in an ideological battle.
