BJP gheraoes Congress office in Ranchi over Kharge’s remark about PM Modi’s late father
THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK Ranchi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday staged a protest outside the Congress state headquarters in Ranchi…
THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Ranchi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday staged a protest outside the Congress state headquarters in Ranchi over a controversial remark allegedly made by Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge in Patna about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s late father.
The protest was jointly organised by the BJP’s Ranchi Mahanagar, Ranchi East and Ranchi West district units. State BJP president Aditya Sahu and Leader of Opposition Babulal Marandi led the demonstration, with hundreds of party workers participating.
The protesters assembled at the District School premises near Shaheed Chowk and marched towards the Congress state office, raising slogans against the Congress and expressing their opposition to Kharge’s alleged remark.
Aditya Sahu calls for an apology
Addressing the gathering, state BJP president Aditya Sahu said political differences were natural in a democracy, but compromising personal dignity and respect was unacceptable.
He described the remark concerning the Prime Minister’s late father as a serious issue involving political propriety and the dignity of public life. While differences of opinion between political parties were normal, he said, targeting a deceased family member in the course of political opposition was inappropriate.
Sahu accused the Congress of repeatedly violating democratic norms and demanded that Kharge apologise to the people of the country.
He said Narendra Modi was a democratically elected Prime Minister who had received the mandate of the people. While opposing the Prime Minister’s political views and policies was a democratic right, Sahu said, making derogatory personal or family-related remarks in the name of political opposition could not be accepted.
He added that BJP workers would continue to raise their voices democratically against such remarks.
Babulal Marandi condemns remark, seeks apology
Leader of Opposition Babulal Marandi described Kharge’s reported remark and the language used in reference to the Prime Minister’s late father as inappropriate and unfortunate. He demanded an immediate apology to the people of the country from either the Congress or its national president.
Marandi said Modi was not merely a BJP leader but the democratically elected Prime Minister representing the country’s 1.4 billion citizens. Criticism of the Prime Minister’s policies and actions was part of democracy, he said, but dragging his late father into political discourse and making objectionable remarks about him could not be justified.
Marandi claimed the incident had triggered widespread anger among BJP workers and the public. He also alleged that the Prime Minister and his mother had previously been subjected to objectionable remarks.
Referring to the Congress’s absence from power at the Centre for the past 12 years and its loss of power in several states, Marandi said the party’s difficulties were understandable. However, he described such a remark by someone holding the position of national president as highly condemnable and termed it a reflection of the Congress’s frustration and disappointment.
Senior BJP leaders attend protest
Several senior BJP leaders and office-bearers participated in the demonstration, including former state presidents Deepak Prakash and Ravindra Rai, state general secretary Amar Kumar Bauri, Saroj Singh, Hemant Das, Suraj Chaurasia, Satish Sinha, Neeraj Singh, Ajay Rai, Sandeep Verma and Ashok Badaik.
Also present were Kisan Morcha president Arjun Singh, Mahila Morcha president Seema Singh, Yuva Morcha president Shashank Raj and OBC Morcha president Manoj Mahato Vajpayee, along with Surya Prabhat, Lalit Ojha, Dilip Soni, Hemant Gupta and district presidents Varun Sahu, Dheeraj Mahato and Narendra Kumar.
Other participants included Sanjay Jaiswal, Subodh Singh Guddu, Manoj Mishra, Sudhakar Chaubey, Jitendra Chandravanshi, Ramesh Singh, Umesh Ranjan, Sanjay Chaudhary, Anil Singh, Seema Sharma, Gangotri Kujur, Prem Mittal, Sanjeev Vijayvargiya, Om Prakash, Munchun Rai, Manoj Dubey, Raju Singh, Rajnish Pandey, Mukesh Gupta, Suman Singh, Subodh Kant and Kajal Pradhan.
Hundreds of leaders and workers from the BJP’s Ranchi Mahanagar, Ranchi East and Ranchi West units attended the protest.
