Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday, while talking about the ongoing controversy over his recent comments against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said that he has already given clarification on his statement.
Speaking to reporters, Mallikarjun Kharge said, “I clarified my statement in Chennai.”
Meanwhile, BJP leaders strongly criticized Mallikarjun Kharge for calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “terrorist” at a press conference on the last day of election campaigning in Tamil Nadu. The Congress president later clarified that what he meant was that the Prime Minister misuses central agencies to “terrorize” his opponents.
The BJP lodged a “strong complaint” with the Election Commission over Kharge’s comments and also demanded an apology from him.
On Tuesday, Kharge told ANI in Kalaburagi that he did not call the Prime Minister a “terrorist” but talked about the harassment of political opponents by the Modi government.
Kharge alleged that the Prime Minister was “terrorizing politicians” and “tax terrorism is happening”.
He said, “I did not say anything against the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is intimidating politicians and candidates. In this regard, I said that tax terrorism is happening, ED is conducting raids, Income Tax Department is conducting raids, CBI is conducting raids… The Prime Minister is promoting this terrorism.”
Kharge said, “I did not call them terrorists… They are scaring people. They are trying to silence people through raids and defeat them in the elections. That’s what I said in Chennai.”
Earlier, Kharge was embroiled in controversy on the last day of election campaigning in Tamil Nadu.
Highlighting opposition unity during the delimitation bill debacle, which was also linked to the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill, the Congress president criticized the AIADMK for supporting the BJP and termed PM Modi as “a terrorist who does not believe in equality.”
However, following criticism, Kharge later clarified his remarks, saying that he did not intend to call Modi a terrorist but to refer to him as “a person who terrorizes political opponents”.
Kharge said in clarification, “He (Prime Minister Modi) is scaring the public and political parties. I never said he is a terrorist… What I mean is, I want to clarify, Modi always threatens. Institutions like ED, Income Tax and CBI are under his control. He also wants to take the delimitation in his hands.”