- Thursday, March 06, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
The Indian parliament remained witness to a huge row on Tuesday (20) as the country’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sought an apology from Mallikarjun Kharge, the president of the opposition Indian National Congress, over an controversial dig he took at the saffron party.
In his remarks made on Monday (19) after the BJP mocked the party’s ongoing ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ (Unite India March) to mobilise popular support under the leadership of former president Rahul Gandhi as ‘Bharat Todo Yatra’ (Divide India March), Kharge said at a rally in the north-western state of Rajasthan that the Congress had “won independence for the country” and its leaders such as Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi had sacrificed their lives and then questioned the BJP of prime minister Narendra Modi, asking whether even its dog had died for the country.
“Has even your dog at home died for the country? Still, they (BJP) claim to be patriots and if we say something we are termed as deshdrohi (anti-nationals),” Kharge, who became the president after winning an election in October, said at the rally in Alwar in eastern Rajasthan.
The veteran leader also slammed the Modi government for allegedly not holding a discussion in parliament on the recent border clash with China, saying, “They (BJP government) talk like a lion outwardly, but if you see they act like a mouse.”
The BJP hit back at Kharge a day later and demanded an apology from him as soon as the day’s proceedings kicked off in the parliament.
“We condemn Mallikarjun Kharge’s comments, the way he used offensive language and tried to spread a lie. He should apologise for using offensive language in Alwar,” India’s commerce minister Piyush Goyal, who is also the leader of the House in Rajya Sabha or Upper House of the parliament, said.
As the demand for apology triggered chaos in the House, Indian vice president and Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said the remark was made outside parliament.
“The country’s 135 crore people are watching us. It is possible that someone got carried away and said something outside… You are not children,” he said.
Kharge, who is the leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, scoffed at the apology demand and said, “If I repeat myself here, it will be very difficult for these people (BJP), because those who apologised during the freedom struggle are asking those who fought for freedom to apologise. They said that the Congress is conducting a ‘Bharat Todo (Divide India) Yatra’. That’s when I said Congress has always worked on Bharat Jodo (uniting India). For this, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi gave their lives. What have you done? Who do you know has sacrificed for the country?”
Goyal hit back, saying, “I think they (Congress) don’t remember your history. They don’t remember the condition that Jammu and Kashmir was in because of the Congress, the threat of Pakistan, China’s occupation, the insult of BR Ambedkar, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel…”
