Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], October 26 : Mamata faction Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Saugata Roy on Monday defended Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s controversial remarks regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s late father, highlighting his advanced age.
Speaking to ANI, Roy downplayed the severity of the controversy, explaining that Kharge’s statement was a spontaneous reaction to an audience interjection during a public event.
“Someone at the meeting said that even your father would not be able to remove Modi, and Kharge-ji replied that even Modi’s father would not be able to do that. Kharge-ji is a senior leader, aged 83-84. He can say such things,” TMC MP Saugata Roy told ANI.
Conversely, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Nishikant Dubey launched a scathing attack on the Congress leadership in New Delhi, accusing them of losing political composure after repeated electoral setbacks.
Dubey asserted that the grand old party’s leadership has completely lost its sense of decorum, drawing a historical contrast with how opposition stalwarts once defended Prime Ministers on national dignity.
"The condition of the entire Congress party has deteriorated. In 1971-72, Henry Kissinger and Nixon used a lot of abusive words about Indira-ji after the Bangladesh war. In the same Parliament, from Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Lal Krishna Advani, they defended her (Indira Gandhi) because she was the Prime Minister of the country. They said that we do not tolerate such things," BJP MP Nishikant Dubey told reporters.
"We cannot tolerate bad things, and if we have to end relations with America, we will never go out and say anything. But the way they use abusive language, they can say such things only if they are crazy. The reason for this is that after losing 100 elections, Congress has not yet recovered from that shock, and it feels that it has to sit in the opposition for 10-20 more years. What I said yesterday and I am saying again today is that today's Congress is a group of madmen and its leadership ranges from Mallikarjun Kharge to Rahul Gandhi," he added.
The ongoing political dispute was ignited during an address by Mallikarjun Kharge at the 139th birth anniversary celebrations of Bihar's first Chief Minister, Dr Krishna Singh, in Patna.
During Kharge's speech, a commotion broke out when an attendee interrupted him, shouting that PM Modi would not go anywhere. In response from the podium, Kharge retorted: "Modi ka baap bhi jayega" (Even Modi's father will have to go).
The BJP staged nationwide demonstrations, including a major protest in Bengaluru where police detained several party workers attempting to march against the Congress leadership.