NEW DELHI: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday took a vitriolic dig at Union home minister Amit Shah over his Maha Kumbh visit, saying Shah’s “dip in Ganga won’t remove poverty“.
Launching a massive broadside against the BJP, the Congress chief said the leaders of the saffron party were “competing with each other to take the dip in the Ganga river for the sake of cameras”.
Kharge, however, clarified that he did not wish to hurt anyone’s “aastha” (faith).
The Rajya Sabha leader of the opposition further intensified his attack and branded the BJP-RSS people “traitors” and said the Congress would never tolerate the exploitation of the poor in the name of religion.
Kharge narrowed down his attack on PM Modi and Shah, saying “they have committed so many sins that they cannot go to heaven in 100 lives”.
Hitting back at Kharge over his remark, BJP’s Puri Lok Sabha MP Sambit Patra said the Congress chief’s statement was an “attack on the faith of crores of Hindus”.
“The Congress party’s hatred towards ‘Sanatan pride, Mahakumbh festival’ is an attack on the faith of crores of Hindus,” the BJP leader said.
Highlighting the spurt in the pleas seeking surveys of Mosque and Dargahs, Kharge also said BJP-RSS continued to “instigate” people, despite RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s “don’t look for Shivling under every mosque” remark.
“The RSS-BJP are ‘deshdrohi‘ (traitors). If you want to free yourself from poverty and unemployment, then protect the Constitution and remain united,” Kharge while addressing a “Jai Bapu, Jai Bhim, Jai Samvidhan” rally in Madhya Pradesh’s Mhow.
Continuing his verbal tirade, Kharge claimed the people of the RSS, who abuse Congress today, did nothing for the country’s freedom struggle and independence as they were with the British.
He also raked up Amit Shah’s remarks on Ambedkar in the Rajya Sabha, while replying to a debate on the Constitution last year and said that it showed the home minister’s “real feelings” for Ambedkar.
Union home minister Amit Shah visited Prayagraj for a one-day trip, where he took holy dip at the Triveni Sangam during the ongoing Maha Kumbh.
Amit Shah was joined by UP CM Yogi Adityanath, yoga guru Baba Ramdev and seers as he performed a ritual bath at the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati rivers in Kumbh city.