Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 27: The Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge is finding himself at the receiving end after his attack on the prime minister Narendra Modi created a huge political uproar, even as the Congress filed a police complaint against the union home minister Amit Shah for allegedly denigrating the grand old party.
As the electioneering in Karnataka hotting up, Kharge at a public meeting in Kalaburagi on Thursday reportedly likened Modi with “poisonous snake” immediately drawing strong criticism from the BJP.
Taking a vile swipe at the prime minister, Kharge said Modi was like a poisonous snake and could kill those who want to test the venom. BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya slammed the Congress leader in return and said that the party was stooping to a new low every day.
Speaking at the election rally ahead of Modi’s first campaign trip to Karnataka on Saturday, Kharge said, “PM Narendra Modi is like a poisonous snake. Now if you want to test a venom because I compared him with a poisonous snake, beware it will lead to your death.” Attacking the Congress chief, Amit Malviya said this showed that the Congress was losing ground in Karnataka. “Now Congress President Kharge calls Prime Minister Modi ‘poisonous snake’. What started with Sonia Gandhi’s ‘maut ka saudagar’, and we know how it ended, the Congress continues to plummet to new depths. The desperation shows Congress is losing ground in Karnataka and knows it.”
In the face of strong criticism, Kharge rushed with clarification that he did not call Modi a poisonous snake. Kharge clarified about his controversial statement on Modi and said it was not a personal attack on him. He said, “My comments are not meant for PM Modi. I called the BJP ideology poisonous, not attacked PM Modi personally. All I meant was if anyone touches BJP ideology, they will be dead because of the poison.”
Kharge also alleged that Modi supported the corrupt people. “The BJP leaders in Karnataka are known for charging 40% commission in every work they do. The PM who speaks about abolishing corruption makes them sit next to him and protects them from all the forces. The people of Karnataka will teach a lesson to his party members in the elections,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Congress leaders Randeep Singh Surjewala, Dr Parmeshwar and Chief of Karnataka Congress DK Shivakumar filed a police complaint on Thursday against Amit Shah and other BJP leaders. In the complaint filed at Bengaluru’s High Grounds police station, Amit Shah was alleged of making provocative statements, promoting enmity and hatred and maligning opposition during his recent rallies in the poll-bound Karnataka.
“Union Home Minister has said that if Congress comes to power then there will be communal riots. How can he say this? We have filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India on this,” said DK Shivakumar after filing the complaint. The complaint mentions the name of Amit Shah, concerned BJP leaders and the organisers of the rally at Vijaypura and other locations in Karnataka on April 25.
“Speech given by Amit Shah was shockingly riddled with flagrantly false statements aimed at tarnishing the image of Indian National Congress by levelling false and unfounded allegations, with a clear objective of trying to create an atmosphere of communal disharmony amongst the gathered crowd and the individuals viewing it on other media platforms,” read the complaint.
A video link of the alleged hate speech was also attached to the complaint. Sections like 153, 505 (2), 171G and 120B of IPC were mentioned in the complaint. Amit Shah is doing back to back rallies as BJP’s star campaigner for the Karnataka Assembly Polls which is scheduled for May 10.
Undeterred, Shah, however, continued to attack the Congress in rally after rally in the southern state. Taking a jibe at the Congress, Shah said while the BJP government was a “double-engine” government, Congress was a “reverse-gear” government. He asked the people not to give the charge of the state to such a government which in itself is a “hindrance” to development.
While addressing a public rally in Devara Hippargi, Vijayapura, Amit Shah said, “On one hand there is PM Modi and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s ‘double-engine’ government and on the other hand, there’s Congress’ ‘reverse gear’ government. They (Congress) drive in reverse gear.” “Whatever development the BJP government does, Congress with its ‘reverse gear’ brings the situation back to square one, wherever BJP government works,” he added.
He further hit out at Congress regarding the promise of restoring 4 per cent Muslim reservation in the state. “We did a major change in reservation. They (Congress) started creating an uproar and said this is unfair. I want to ask, why should the reservation be given on the basis of religion? The Constitution doesn’t allow reservation on a religious basis, but Congress just for their vote bank gave 4 per cent reservation to Muslims. Now, the BJP government has scrapped it and given it instead to Lingayat, Vokkaligas and other communities,” the Home Minister said.
He added, “Congress says that if it comes to power, it will again give back the reservation to Muslims, and take it away from Lingayats, Vokkaligas, and SC/ST. But don’t worry, neither will Congress come to power nor will they be able to do so.”
The former BJP president said the BJP banned the Popular Front of India (PFI) which used to carry out rampant violence in the state. “We banned PFI, who used to carry out a spate of violence in the state. When Siddaramaiah was the Chief Minister, he released them all. But, once we came to power, we picked each one of them and put them back in jail. This ‘reverse gear’ government says that if they come to power, they will revoke the ban on PFI. This is a warning bell for the whole of Karnataka,” Amit Shah further said.
At a rally in Belagavi, the defence minister Rajnath Singh also attacked the Congress alleging that the party used “religion” to come to power. Slamming the party for introducing four per cent reservation for Muslims, Singh said it was done only to appease the Muslims. “If there is any political party in the history of India which took the support of ‘dharma’, or rather, ‘mazhab’ to come to power, then it is Congress,” Mr Singh said, addressing a public meeting at Kagwad in Belagavi district.
The Congress does the “politics of Hindu, Muslim and Christians”, he said. “Politics of this sort should never ever be done. Only to appease Muslims, the four per cent reservation was given on religious lines, he alleged. “We will welcome if an economically-weaker Muslim or a Christian gets reservation benefits but the Constitution of India does not permit religion-based reservation,” the Defence Minister said.