Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday triggered a fresh political row with a remark about Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the latest in a series of such comments that have drawn sharp attacks from the BJP over the years.
His party won’t believe in equality and justice,” Kharge said. His party is a terrorist party; they support people indulging in such acts, then they blame others,” Kharge said, news agency PTI reported. He questioned the AIADMK’s alliance with the BJP, saying, “How these AIADMK people… how can they join Modi? He is a terrorist. He later denied calling the Prime Minister a terrorist as such. “His own party is a party of terrorists; they are involved in lynching, beating people…
He had used this analogy in October 2024, in Kalaburagi in his home state of Karnataka. In April 2026, Kharge addressed an Assam election rally where he said a person should break off namaz to kill a poisonous snake passing in front of them.
The most recent episode took place during Kharge’s address at an event in Patna, where a man in the crowd said Modi would “not go anywhere”. Kharge replied, “Modi ka baap bhi jayega” (Even Modi’s father will go). The man, pushed out of the venue, later said it was a misunderstanding, as he had said, in full, that “unless there’s a public revolt, Modi will not go”. “I said that tax terrorism is happening; the Enforcement Directorate, the Income Tax Department, and the Central Bureau of Investigation are conducting raids,” he told news agency ANI. He was responding to Modi’s charge that the Congress was run by a “gang of urban Naxals”. BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said, “Kharge’s statement reflects the Congress’ mentality. “The RSS and the BJP are that poisonous snake,” Kharge said.
