Slugfest over Mallikarjun Kharge's RSS remarks, Pawan Khera's claims on Assam CM's wife| India News

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday slammed Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for making alleged disparaging comments against the party and its ideological fount, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), at an election rally in Assam, and filed complaints with state police and the Election Commission (EC) against the senior leader.Addressing a press conference in Delhi, senior BJP leader and lawmaker Ravi Shankar Prasad condemned Kharge’s alleged remarks comparing the BJP and RSS to “poisonous snakes,” terming them “deeply objectionable” and beyond the limits of acceptable political discourse. He also demanded an apology from Kharge for his alleged remarks on the people of Gujarat and some other states, saying that the comment was “shameless, demeaning and utterly despicable”.“Do they agree with this statement? If Rahul Gandhi has any sense, he should distance himself from this remark, condemn it, and demand an apology,” Prasad said, adding that Kharge “does not deserve to remain Congress president” for making such comments, and questioned if he had “abandoned all sense of dignity” associated with the post.“The position he holds was once occupied by leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Maulana Azad, Sonia Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, and even Rahul Gandhi. What kind of language is being used by someone holding such a post? Kharge’s comment is not only demeaning, but shameless and utterly despicable,” he said.Also Read: 'He's run away', says Sarma as Assam Police reaches Pawan Khera's residence in DelhiAt an election rally in Kerala’s Idukki on Sunday, Kharge had said the people of the state were “educated and clever” and cannot be misled, unlike those who were “illiterate” in Gujarat and some other places.Prasad demanded that the Congress president apologise to the people of Gujarat, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. “Kharge, you owe an apology to the country. On behalf of the BJP, we demand that you apologise for calling the people of Gujarat illiterate.”On Kharge’s comment against the BJP and the RSS, Prasad said his comments are an attempt to malign “patriotic organisations.” “He has made a very offensive statement,” the former Union minister said.During an election rally in Assam’s Sribhumi district on Monday, Kharge, citing the Quran, said if a poisonous snake is passing in front of someone, even if he is offering namaz, then he should leave the namaz and kill that poisonous snake.“I would say that breaking the namaz does not matter. The RSS and the BJP are that poisonous snake,” Kharge had said.Meanwhile, BJP social media in-charge Ranjib Kumar Sarmah filed a police complaint against Kharge, alleging that the Congress president made “derogatory statements”. The FIR was registered at the Basistha police station in Guwahati. The spokesperson said that another complaint has been lodged with EC.Searches at Pawan Khera's Delhi homeMeanwhile, a team of Assam Police on Tuesday conducted a search at the residence of Congress leader Pawan Khera in Delhi, two days after he levelled allegations of undeclared assets abroad and possession of multiple passports against CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife.Also Read: K'taka minister Priyank Kharge accuses RSS of indulging in money launderingThe action came a day after a police complaint filed by Sarma’s wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, in Guwahati, sought action against Khera and others.“A case has been registered in crime branch police station in Guwahati and we came looking for Pawan Khera in that connection. He was not present at his house,” a senior officer of Assam Police told reporters in Delhi. “We conducted a search at his residence and found some incriminating things which we cannot disclose at present. We have no idea where Khera is, but he will be traced soon.”On Sunday, Khera had alleged the CM’s wife has passports of four countries — the UAE, Antigua and Barbuda and Egypt — and has properties in Dubai and has registered a company in Wyoming (the US). Both Sarma and his wife have termed the charges as baseless with the former claiming that the documents shown by Khera were morphed using AI, taken from a Facebook page linked to Pakistan.On Monday, the Congress had filed a petition with EC seeking disqualification of the CM from the assembly poll for non-disclosure of assets held by his family abroad. Another complaint with ED sought PMLA action.On Tuesday, Sarma claimed that Khera had “fled” to Hyderabad. “Assam Police will get him from ‘pataal’, if needed. He will have to disclose where he got these forged documents. I doubt, he got them from Rahul Gandhi. If that’s the case, we will take action against him too.”Reacting to the developments, Kharge told reporters: “We have made some serious allegations (against Sarma and his wife), they have a double engine government and should check them out. But instead of doing that if they lodge FIRs, let them be. We will face whatever happens.”On Kharge’s remarks, Sarma stoked controversy by saying: “Kharge is ageing and is speaking like a pagal (madman).”The Congress slammed the Assam CM’s remarks, with party leader Rahul Gandhi saying the use of “derogatory language” against Kharge by Sarma is an insult to the entire SC/ST community, and the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the matter “is not his helplessness, but his consent”. “If the Prime Minister sees an attack on the dignity of crores of Dalits in the country and does not speak up - he is not only shirking his responsibility, but is also a party to that insult,” Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X.Gandhi said the use of “vulgar and derogatory language” by Sarma against Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Kharge “is entirely condemnable, shameful, and unacceptable”. “Kharge ji is a senior and popular Dalit leader of the country - his experience, stature, and prestige are unparalleled. Insulting him is not an insult to one individual alone, but also to crores of people from the SC-ST community in this country.”