Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s statement referring to “Ravan’s 100 heads” to criticise Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s presence at election rallies to campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party has now snowballed into a major controversy with Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel labelling the Congress veteran’s statement as a “testimony” to the party’s hatred towards the people of Gujarat.
“Bereft of any development agenda and support from the people, Congress is out to abuse Gujarat and Gujaratis. The statement made by Kharge ji against PM Narendra Modi ji is testimony to their hate for Gujaratis. People of Gujarat will reject them this time too for such behaviour,” said Patel in a tweet on Tuesday.
Addressing a rally in the Behrampura area of Ahmedabad city on Monday night, Kharge said that the PM seeks votes for the BJP in his name and asks people to ignore everything else.
“Modi asks people to ignore everything and vote (for BJP) by keeping his face in front of the eyes. I wonder on how many occasions we have to see your face? People have to see your face during municipal corporation polls, then in the Assembly polls and also during polls to elect MPs,” he said.
“Everywhere you want us to see your face. Why? How many faces do you have? Are you 100-headed like Ravan? I don’t understand this,” the Congress president added.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra accused the Congres of “insulting” every Gujarati after Kharge’s remarks and urged people to teach the grand-old party a lesson by voting against them.
“What Kharge said is condemnable and shows the mindset of the Congress. This is not merely an insult of Modi but of every Gujarati,” Patra said, as quoted by PTI.
Patra further alleged that Kharge was voicing the views of Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. “Personal attacks on Modi started with Sonia Gandhi’s ‘maut ka saudagar’ (merchant of death) remarks during the 2007 Gujarat assembly polls,” he said.